American international group

Did Goldman Sachs induce the collapse of AIG? The SEC is now examining the possibility that Goldman used its leverage in its relationship with the giant insurer to squeeze extra cash out of AIG on its credit default swaps -- and then push it over the edge.

How about waiting to pay any bonuses to AIG employees only after U.S. taxpayers have gotten all their money back? Then bonuses should come out of AIG profits. Until that happens, no bonuses.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner will tell Congress Wednesday that he knew nothing about the Fed's decision to keep secret the details of its plans to funnel $62 billion through AIG to big banks back in late 2008 when he headed the New York Federal Reserve.

Neil Barofsky has begun the process of reviewing the Fed's role in the AIG bailout.

The following is a round-up of news likely to affect stock prices today:

eBay Inc. (EBAY) beat Wall Street expectations when it reported solid results late Wednesday, powered by double-digit revenue growth in PayPal and its core marketplaces unit and the sale of 70% of Web-calling service Skype. The results were also helped by a better-than-expected holiday shopping season. The company also forecast 2010 results would be above expectations. Shares jumped about 7.7% in pre-market trade.

MetLife may buy AIG's American Life Insurance Co. for $14 to $15 billion. If the deal goes through, $9 billion would be used to pay back the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which largely orchestrated the government's $182.3 billion bailout of AIG.

The Fed is giving up on its fight to keep some of its bailout dealings secret. Chairman Ben Bernanke has invited congressional auditors to review the Fed's aid to AIG. Congress wants to know who benefited from the $62 billion the government gave to the struggling insurer.

Did you hear about the new tax proposed by President Obama, designed to recoup $90 billion in lost TARP money from the nation's largest financial firms? Well, there's a catch: The banks won't actually repay all $90 billion, because the new tax will be tax deductible.

The White House is poised to propose a $90 billion tax on big banks to recoup losses from the Troubled Asset Recovery Program (TARP). After all the repayments banks have to make under TARP's original conditions, the government now expects losses of $117 billion to remain. If that's the case, the tax would be kept in force until the full amount of losses is recouped. The remaining losses so far come mostly from three money-eating "investments" -- American International Group (AIG), General Motors and Chrysler.

A selection of stories for investors from around the Internet, including the actual odds of a terrorist attack happening on a plane, Morningstar's list of cash-poor stocks, will Obama's bank fee plan work?