AIG just received $85 billion from taxpayers. This, of course, is in addition to the $30 billion bailout received last year.
Whew! That was a close call.
For a moment I thought AIG might actually go under. After all, a group of executives have run that company into the ground at the tune of a $65 billion loss last year.
$65 billion loss. Wow. Whoever was running that company was apparently making some boneheaded decisions.
So, what punishment does AIG dole out to these guys who ran this company to the tune of a $65 billion loss last year? A cut in salary? A demotion? Fire them?
Why no, they gave them $165 million in bonuses of course!
Well, if that doesn’t make you smile, the you might consider that they also spent $440,000 entertaining themselves at a spa. A $440,000 spa treatment? Do they charge extra for massages and facials when the client is millionare client who is paid by tax payer dollars? It seems like they must. Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that those millionare executives could afford their own massages and didn’t need tax payers to pay for them? Wondering bout that…..
Finally though, taxpayers are angry, and now it seems AIG has gotten the message. They went hunting partridges in England at a cost of $86,000. Seems to be a fair reward for making poor business decisions doesn’t it?
The hunting adventure seems small potatoes though, as now we find that AIG is continuing to pay for a luxury suite at Madison Square Gardens. Do you know what a luxury suite (sweet?) costs at Madison Square Gardens costs? Best not ask if you don’t want to pout the rest of the day. They won’t let you into that suite unless you are an AIG executive who helped the company lose $65 billion. You’ll have to pay cash for nose bleed seats like the rest of us.
AIG defended their hunting party on the grounds that it is an annual event and was planned before the bailout. Perish the thought that after losing $65 billion in one year, they might take another look at what might be a prudent way to spend money, or at least cut back once they are put on the public dole. Have any executives at AIG considered the possibility that they lost $65 billion dollars because they were making poor business decisions like spending money recklessly on spas, bird hunts and luxury suites?
AIG head Sebastian Preil said the following: “The recession will go on until about 2011 – but the shooting was great today and we are relaxing fine.”
I feel much better.
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