The scandals that most move public opinion are those that ordinary people can understand.

In the U.S. House bank scandal of 1992, the public learned that members enjoyed banking privileges not available to most consumers. To many Americans that stood for everything that was wrong with Capitol Hill at the time.

The latest twist involving American International Group is a similar case, in that it suddenly brings a financially complicated case into sharp focus: AIG has received $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money; executives ran the company into the ground; and now come reports that lavish bonuses are going out to those same people. The outrage is real, and justifiably so.

President Obama says he intends to stop the payments, though it isn’t clear what can be done.

AIG says it will curb future bonuses. But National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner both say existing payments represent contractual obligations. The government may not be able to block them.

Some in Congress say perhaps it’s time that those involved are fired. As Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank put it, “We can’t keep them from getting bonuses, but we can keep them from having their jobs.”

AIG was bailed out because allowing it to fall could have triggered a cascade of financial failures that threatened the entire financial system.

AIG chief executive Edward Liddy, who joined the company after the bonus contracts were settled, will testify before a House subcommittee Wednesday. He should explain how AIG’s bonus policies can be changed so that executives are no longer rewarded for such spectacular failure.