The examples you've given for voluntary deals not being OK were for protected classes. There's no such protections for companies who have run their company int

The examples you've given for voluntary deals not being OK were for protected classes. There's no such protections for companies who have run their company into the ground and need a bailout. Agreeing to a deal, no matter how onerous the contractual requirements is perfectly legal if you're not a protected class, and AIG was not a protected class. Even given that, a 14% interest rate and being asked to pay back contractually obligated debt don't seem to be onerous. Companies (and individuals) with poor creditworthiness are asked to do that all the time. It's certainly not a historically onerous agreement, and it's in-line with the returns investors were seeking for similarly risky investments at that time.