Opening today’s House Financial Services Committee hearing on AIG, Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass) makes a strong case for suing all those executives who got their multi-million dollar bonuses despite their high-risk incompetence that ultimately led the company down the toilet.

Reading from the contracts — which still appear not to be publicly available, though I’m trying to get them — Frank notes that the contracts effectively insulated the managers from the company’s losses: heads – I win; tails – I don’t lose, either.

“We should bring lawsuits, as the owners, to say these people performed so badly that we’re justified in rescinding the contracts,” said Frank.  He added that the contracts even appear to have been written and signed in comtemplation of serious losses, suggesting the fraud that New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has said he’s investigating.

I still think the first step ought to be making those contracts public, and seeing what exactly the AIG employees were expected to do to fulfill their end of the bargain. And if there’s a real case to be made that they didn’t fulfill their obligations (as there sure seems to be, given the state of the company), then by all means — sue the bastards.

Update: The AIG contracts are now up on the House Financial Services Committee Website (PDF).