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AIG execs' retreat after bailout angers lawmakers
My Way ^ | Oct. 7, 2008 | ANDREW TAYLOR

Posted on 10/08/2008 7:12:17 AM PDT by COUNTrecount

Less than a week after the federal government had to bail out American International Group Inc. (AIG), the company sent executives on a $440,000 retreat to a posh California resort, lawmakers investigating the company's meltdown said Tuesday.

The tab included $23,380 worth of spa treatments for AIG employees at the coastal St. Regis resort south of Los Angeles even as the company tapped into an $85 billion loan from the government it needed to stave off bankruptcy.

The retreat didn't include anyone from the financial products division that nearly drove AIG under, but lawmakers were still enraged over thousands of dollars spent on catered banquets, golf outings and visits to the resort's spa and salon for executives of AIG's main U.S. life insurance subsidiary.

"Average Americans are suffering economically. They're losing their jobs, their homes and their health insurance," House Oversight Committee Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., scolded the company during a lengthy opening statement. "Yet less than one week after the taxpayers rescued AIG, company executives could be found wining and dining at one of the most exclusive resorts in the nation."

The hearing disclosed that AIG executives hid the full range of its risky financial products from auditors as losses mounted, according to documents released Tuesday by a congressional panel examining the chain of events that forced the government to bail out the conglomerate.

(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...


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To: Kerretarded

What if it was already spent and not refundable?


41 posted on 10/08/2008 8:22:11 AM PDT by joesbucks
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To: Oldexpat
The way I read it..this was a rewards trip for salesmen in a unit not related to mortgages. This is a common way that big companies reward the MIDDLE CLASS salesmen and their wives for meeting goals.

THE ENTIRE COMPANY needed to be bailed out, not just one division. The Government now owns 80% of AIG, both successful divisions and CORRUPT divisions. If ANY division of that company was doing so good that it could spend $400k on rewards, don't you think that the money would have been better spent SAVING the company?

It was budgeting such as this that drove the company under in the first place.
42 posted on 10/08/2008 8:26:01 AM PDT by Eagle of Liberty (MCCAIN/PALIN '08!!!!!)
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To: COUNTrecount

The dem’s October Surprise is getting out of hand...


43 posted on 10/08/2008 8:27:33 AM PDT by GOPJ (Derivative traders HAVE MADE MORE MONEY THAN EXISTS - Bailouts & rate cuts to ZERO won't work.)
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To: COUNTrecount
They should have cancelled the event and either donated it to charity or lost the entire amount.

Sorry, but I think we have to agree to disagree here. I truly don't think that there was any chance of 'recovering' the deposit so giving it to charity was moot. I stand by my rationale of why it made sense to me and will add these considerations.

Consider the individual attendees. If I was scheduled for this 8 day event, I would have already bought airline tickets, had replacement coverage for my office duties and set other things to be done in my absence knowing I wasn't going to be using my car or other personal items.

Now I get a sudden call to cancel all of this and then I am to do what? It is one thing if the company is being liquidated, then everything is gone, I get my belongings out of the office and look for other employment. In AIG's case, they are still working there, they will logically submit expenses for the lost airline ticket and ALL ASSOCIATED Expenses since they were CAUSED by the COMPANY. Have you ever tried to get a refund for a current airline ticket - so sorry!

As for Public Relations efforts, I have no doubt that they are ongoing but as I said in my previous reply, given the election and media biases, I am thinking that no explanations or justifications were given any credence.

44 posted on 10/08/2008 8:30:53 AM PDT by SES1066 (Cycling to conserve, Conservative to save, Saving to Retire, will Retire to Cycle.)
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To: joesbucks
What if it was already spent and not refundable?

Do you really want me to answer that?
45 posted on 10/08/2008 8:32:01 AM PDT by Eagle of Liberty (MCCAIN/PALIN '08!!!!!)
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To: Iron Munro

WE are, every time we elect the politicians that we do.See my tag line.


46 posted on 10/08/2008 8:32:13 AM PDT by COUNTrecount (de Tocqueville ..."In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve". ...)
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To: SES1066
If I was scheduled for this 8 day event,

You are missing the point.
47 posted on 10/08/2008 8:33:27 AM PDT by Eagle of Liberty (MCCAIN/PALIN '08!!!!!)
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To: Oldexpat

Doesn’t matter. Once you let Uncle Sam in the door, you have to wear drab clothing and use gunmetal office furniture, and you CANNOT have employee outings like this.


48 posted on 10/08/2008 8:35:53 AM PDT by ichabod1 (You won't know communism is here until it puts a boot in your (fat) derriere.)
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To: AndyJackson
You get what you pay for and what you pay for in Congressmen isn’t all that great

You're right. The hopeless buffoons in industry aren't any brighter than the congress critters and they're taking home multi-millions in golden parachutes. Maybe we got a pretty sweet deal going only paying these critters a couple hundred thou a year.

49 posted on 10/08/2008 8:40:08 AM PDT by ichabod1 (You won't know communism is here until it puts a boot in your (fat) derriere.)
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To: Iron Munro

The thing that irks me is that all the companies back in the early 00s were prosecuted bigtime. Several Enron execs committed suicide. Ken Lay was ruined, and died shortly after in disgrace after having the humiliation of auctioning off all his things to pay his judgment. Worldcomm got in a similar mess as this with the million dollar birthday party.

I realize the true playas will skate, they usually do, but this public demands some people HANG over this, and it is going to continue to be one sour electorate until and unless that happens.

It won’t take long either. If Obama wins, his honeymoon is going to last about one day. Hell, McCain may NOT want to win. It’s not going to be a good time to be president. And don’t tell me about how the press loves rats... they were plenty sour on Clinton when he was up to his shenanigans.


50 posted on 10/08/2008 8:46:52 AM PDT by ichabod1 (You won't know communism is here until it puts a boot in your (fat) derriere.)
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To: SES1066

I understand your point, I’m involved with conference planners, and I’ve had a club reserved for outings for companies I’ve worked at. Still and all, bottom line, I frickin’ hate AIG. They screwed my father over, caused him to lose the will to live, and it bothers me not one whit to see their @$$es on fire over this.

There were plenty of things they could do to mitigate this. Again, I admit, they might have thought a morale-booster was just the thing, but it looks bad, really bad, not least because now it’s Taxpayer money.


51 posted on 10/08/2008 8:50:20 AM PDT by ichabod1 (You won't know communism is here until it puts a boot in your (fat) derriere.)
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To: COUNTrecount

I’m actually shocked that their democrat friends in congress are outraged. But then there is no proof of outrage on the part of congress, just hot air. Prosecution and seizing their personal assets to offset the taxes to bail the company out of the mess they created would positively indicate real outrage and anger.

Never happen, they are big democrat contributors.


52 posted on 10/08/2008 8:53:06 AM PDT by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: SES1066

A simple statement from PR saying that in these economic times AIG recognizes that a resort vacation is inappropriate. All efforts to use the paid event for various charities will be explored.(Ronald MacDonald houses,Gilda’s Place, etc)

So how does AIG look now as opposed to how the MSMs would have reported the different outcome?

You’re thinking like an event planner.The people who have lost vast amounts in their 401K’s and retirement funds aren’t.


53 posted on 10/08/2008 8:54:31 AM PDT by COUNTrecount (de Tocqueville ..."In a democracy, the people get the government they deserve". ...)
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To: COUNTrecount

In ages past this would have been torches and pitchforks time, with the peasants heading for Frankenstein’s castle...


54 posted on 10/08/2008 8:54:37 AM PDT by Boagenes (I'm your huckleberry, that's just my game.)
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To: SES1066

A non-point. They knew they were going under long before they went to the spa. Their little vacation is just one more indicator of their lack of consideration for the financial disaster they had helped bring about.


55 posted on 10/08/2008 8:57:32 AM PDT by RJS1950 (The democrats are the "enemies foreign and domestic" cited in the federal oath)
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To: Kerretarded

We all are a little edgy? LOL

Don’t worry.


56 posted on 10/08/2008 8:58:49 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote.)
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To: RJS1950
Their little vacation is just one more indicator of their lack of consideration for the financial disaster they had helped bring about.

Our rapidly disappearing middle class is the glue that's held our society peacefully together for so long. Few will recognize the important role it's played until it's gone. Then watch hell break loose. Murder, kidnapping for ransom, extortion will all increase. Hello, third world America!

Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.

57 posted on 10/08/2008 9:15:23 AM PDT by E. Cartman (Will Bush, Bernanke or Paulson let Uncle Sam handle their personal wealth?)
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To: Kerretarded

I have since learned it was spent after the fact and not before.

They should re-emburse.


58 posted on 10/08/2008 12:57:12 PM PDT by joesbucks
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To: The Sons of Liberty

People like you are why we have things like judgment N.O.V. and related ways to make sure juries don’t completely ignore the law.


59 posted on 10/09/2008 10:33:28 AM PDT by Arguendo
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