The Feds purportedly “control” AIG.  Should the Feds allow these payments to stand? (FT Alphaville)

How to legally get the AIG bonuses back.   (Money & Co., Interfluidity)

Public anger aside, isn’t this debate over bonuses really all for show?  (Marginal Revolution also The Big Money, Clusterstock, The Stash)

“Why did AIG and the federal government think it necessary to pay full value to AIG’s counterparties?”  (Dealscape also FT.com, DealBook, Daily Options Report)

Threats aside, hasn’t AIG already blown up?  (Dealbreaker)

Wall Streeters are seeking pay loopholes.   Apparently they haven’t been reading the news of late.  (WSJ.com, naked capitalism, Dealscape)

On the subject of Wall Street pay,  Goldman Sachs (GS) is “bailing out” some of their own employees.  (NYTimes.com, Clusterstock)

Inflation breaks the political and social logjam around banking.  With some luck, it helps growth – at least in the short-term.  And of course the surviving bankers win big.”  (Baseline Scenario)

Are bank bonds a good bet considering the Feds’ proclivity to blink?  (breakingviews.com, Zero Hedge)

Who knew buying the Powershares QQQ (QQQQ) was a “cash-rich” strategy?  (greenfaucet.com)

What does Tobin’s Q currently telling us about the state of the stock market?  (Ideas Report)

REITs are a wreck.  (Zero Hedge)

Ten stocks poised for a bounceback.  (24/7 Wall St.)

Don’t confuse what many quants were doing on Wall Street, with quantitative-based investing strategies.  (The Guru Investor)

Who might buy the iShares ETF business?  (Morningstar.com, WSJ.com, IndexUniverse.com)

It is a good time to be a small bank.  (Time.com, WSJ.com also Dealbreaker)

Jim Rogers still likes farmland and commodities, not much else.  (FT Alphaville, greenfaucet.com)

A broader look at Nouriel Roubini’s portfolio and his “right to forecast” the stock market.  (Market Movers, ibid)

Just how seriously should we take the “Congressional effect” on the stock market?  (Empirical Finance Research Blog)

“It’s difficult to improve yourself as a performer if you don’t truly understand your strengths and weaknesses as a performer.”  (TraderFeed)

You thought “shovel ready” meant these projects were ready to go?  Think again.  (WSJ.com, Atlantic Business, Clusterstock)

Is long equities-short housing the right trade for the next five years?  (Market Movers)

Was the housing starts number a good number or a bad number?  (Bespoke, Calculated Risk, Big Picture)

Keep an eye out for a short-term boost in consumer demand.  (Infectious Greed)

“Still, it’s clear that the employment downturn we’ve been dealing with, while probably the worst since the Great Depression, is much, much closer in severity to the recessions of the mid 1970s and early 1980s than to the utter disaster of the 1930s.”  (Curious Capitalist, ibid)

Recession effects:  romance book sales and vasectomies up, LASIK operations down.  (Andrew Sullivan, Freakonomics)

MBAs need a good dose of “humility and understanding.”  (Free exchange)

Does a web-only newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, have a chance?  (Silicon Alley Insider, Slate.com)

“The problem with Jim Cramer is the problem with the Jonas Brothers:  what he does simply isn’t much good, for all that people seemingly have a large appetite to consume it.”  (Atlantic Business)

Can Twitter buck the curse of Web 2.0?  (DealBook)

Need help filling out your brackets?  How about a dose of quantitative bracketology?   (WSJ.com, David Letscher)

Interested in receiving Abnormal Returns via e-mail?  Please visit this simple sign-up form to receive all of our posts delivered (almost) daily.