After the bailout, AIG Execs Head to California Resort

"Their getting their pedicures and their manicures and the American people are paying for that," said Cong. Elijah Cummings (D-MD).

If you just GIVE someone something, they oftentimes take it for granted.  These people are used to wasting large sums of money.  This is just another example.  They feel no guilt about it either.  Oh, it was soooo exhausting going thru that Bailout!  I must go and get a pedicure!!!  I say, rip their frigging toenails out!!!!

"Mr. Sullivan and the other top executives should have had their bonuses slashed due to poor performance," said Waxman.

Sullivan said it was "substantially reduced" by the board in 2007 due to poor performance.

Sullivan was given a $15 million "golden parachute" payment after being replaced as CEO in June.

No one that I know gets financially rewarded for poor performance!!!! 

............... "Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

Date: 10/7/2008 4:42:29 PM
Author: MoonWater
ain't that some ****

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A deal is only a deal if you are getting exactly what you want.

"Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn." -Gore Vidal

Mrs. S<3JS

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Feeling Blue and Blech Today

This was not a retreat for the "sales people" it was a retreat for the executives.  I'm pretty sure the "sales people" are not going to see any of these planned events this year.

Now, typically these retreats are approved ahead of time and already worked into the budget so the money for this particular trip most likely didn't come from the government assistance.  But if these execs were smart, they would not have taken the trip (or at least waited a few more months). 

I am sorry to see this has turned into a witchhunt.
         

Reuters
AIG says lavish event was mischaracterized
Wednesday October 8, 2:29 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group Inc (NYSE:AIG - News), a day after being criticized for a lavish event held just days after the insurer got an $85 billion government rescue loan, shot back on Wednesday saying the event was for independent life insurance agents, not its employees.

 
 
AIG drew fire at a congressional hearing on Tuesday for spending $200,000 on hotel rooms and $23,000 on spa services at an event lawmakers characterized as an executive retreat.

As lawmakers grilled former top executives, Rep. Elijah Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, said: "They were getting facials, manicures and massages, while the American people were footing the bill."

On Wednesday, AIG said the "business event," hosted by one of its subsidiaries, was for independent life insurance agents. It said the event was planned "months before" it received the loan last month, and no AIG executives from headquarters attended.

AIG's effort to correct the record on the event came after White House spokeswoman Dana Perino had added on Wednesday to criticism of the event.

"I understand why the American people would be outraged," she said at a White House briefing.

President George W. Bush did not intend to benefit industry titans when he approved the bailout of AIG and a wider $700 billion Wall Street rescue package, she said.

"Rewarding failure is something we have a very hard time swallowing," Perino added.

AIG said current Chief Executive Edward Liddy had written a letter to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to clarify the circumstances of the business event.

The company said Liddy assured Paulson that AIG now faces very different challenges, saying: "(W)e owe our employees and the American public new standards and approaches," and that the company is "re-evaluating the costs of all aspects of our operations..."

AIG said 10 employees from its subsidiary, AIG American General, attended the 100-guest event.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer, with additional reporting by Andy Sullivan in Washington;