What do companies that post record losses and teeter on the brink of bankruptcy only to be bailed out by the American taxpayer do? That's right - they dole out $100 million in bonuses to the fat cat executives that scuttled a multi-billion dollar fortune.

Bonus payments totaling $100 million to AIG employees from the same unit that prompted a massive taxpayer bailout are "outrageous" but allowed under the law, the Obama administration's pay czar said Wednesday.

Kenneth Feinberg said the retention bonuses were contractual obligations agreed upon years ago, before American International Group Inc. received a $180 billion federal rescue at the height of the financial crisis in late 2008.

"These are the old grandfathered payments," Feinberg said. "I do not for a minute ignore the outrage out there, which I share. But the fact of the matter is we've got to abide by the law."

It's time to pass a new set of laws to take on the excesses of Wall Street. Our small businesses and our middle class is at stake.