bonus – noun

A retainer paid to an employee to avoid having to replace him with someone even more incompetent.

I would not be doing my job if I did not directly advise you of my grave concern about the long-term consequences of the actions we are taking today. On the one hand, all of us at AIG recognize the environment in which we operate and the remonstrations of our President for a more restrained system of compensation for executives. On the other hand, we cannot attract and retain the best and brightest talent to lead and staff the AIG businesses—which are now being operated principally on behalf of the American taxpayers—if employees believe that their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the U.S. Treasury.

—From a letter by AIG CEO Edward Liddy to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner

bad bank – noun

1. A bank that accurately accounts for the worth of its assets.

2. A warehouse for toxic sludge and other noxious products of value creators.

bridge loan – noun

Short-term financing that takes a company from one insolvent shore, safely spans the turbid waters of liquidation, and delivers it to the opposite insolvent shore.

bankruptcy – noun

1. (individual) A state of moral degeneracy, in which a person willfully and without conscience incurs debt he cannot repay.

2. (corporate) A brief period of financial restructuring; a fiscal hiccup.

bundling - noun

A populist measure for extending political representation to the upper-middle class.

bubble – noun

A gaseous spherule enclosed by a delicate liquid layer that upholds our whole economy.

bailout – noun

A government-issued, golden parachute for corporations.

beheading – noun

A jihadist's exercise in shock and awe, but with fewer civilian casualties.

balanced - adjective (reprise)

Quoting both sides of any fact.

balanced – adjective

Slanted to correct imagined bias.

binding - adjective

Seemingly in one's interest.

bias – noun

Disagreement with one's own viewpoint.

black site – noun

An exclusive travel destination that is a well kept secret.

bipartisan – adjective

1. Inoffensive; watered down.

2. Combining the extremism of both sides.

3. Differing in name only.

blowback – noun

The karmic laurel of American foreign policy.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

benchmark – noun

A standard for measuring the success of a project that invariably confirms both the optimistic hopes of its supporters and the dire warnings of its detractors.