Weblogic

Every AIG exec should be jailed immediately for such a trick! The loan they received is from Americans and most Americans cannot afford to live like they do. These people are completely with the sense God gave a goose!

Yes they should be jailed and they should also have to give back every dime of the money from the buy out.....with interest would be good....it is time that the government and this big wig executives quit STEALING from the little guy and start living like the rest of us have to.....enought with corruption and greed....

The CEO Mr. Sullivan should pay for the sales meeting. He earns millions for leading the company into the mess it's in. Then he can go to jail..

We gave them the loan to help them out but they chose to use the money on a lavish conference which is why they are in the mess in the first place. If we give out loans there should be someone appointed to make sure the money is used effectively.These greedy CEO's and executives need to be taught a lesson.

This cost should be treated as income to each and every attendee and reported by them on their W2 as income and they should have to pay tax at the highest bracket with no ofsetting tax credits, or Mr Sullivan should be the recipient of this windfall income on his W2 to pay taxes on with no loopholes or offsetting credits to reduce the tax liability. I personally would like to see 150% liability so they will in effect pay back the U S taxpayer for inappropriate use of the funds allocated for the bailout. This should also instigate an investigation into every firm being bailed out into the usage of said monies and where appropriate strong measures should be taken to recoup the monies with penalties.

Unless they pay for this out of their own pockets, it is criminal that they enjoy golf and spa treatments as well as luxury meals and rooms on taxpayer money while the middle class tries to plan for gas money to get to work!

More outrage! AIG must be required to repay the excess of that "frat" party to the US Treasury now! Their well-paid executives can chip in or the IRS could issue a fine plus interest.

I think the punishment needs to fit the crime. How about AIG pays the government back the $440,000 it just waisted by going on a vacation, and then pay a mil as a fine for misappropriating the taxpayers money. Further, the entire corporate hiarchy needs to be replaced. No severance, no buy outs, just flat out fired. Maybe they should be replaced by some IRS auditors. Those corporate blowfish need to cut back like the rest of us, after all, the feds aren't paying our bills.

The key word in this story is the word "loan". The government (all of us) loaned this company 85 billion dollars. It sounds much like the bad loans in the housing sector that catapulted our economy in to this chaos in the first place. What is surprising here? I don't recall hearing any specifications on what was to be done with the money we handed over to them. Certainly it is outrageous but I think quite predictable. When bad behavior is rewarded, it will continue. And so it has.

There is no doubt in my mind, they should have to pay the gov't (and us, the taxpayers) back..WITH INTEREST! This is despicable.

While $440,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to $85,000,000,000, it clearly sends the signal that management does not has a clue about public relations. Given the revolving door in the CEO's office, Edward Liddy may not have even been informed of this since he was elected to his position on 9/18/08. His predecessor, Robert Willumsted, was on the job for three months.

Whoever decided to hold this junket argued that the rooms were booked- and probably paid for - one year ago. If this was a commitment to reward top employees for their contribution in 2007, then I think that AIG was right in honoring the commitment to those employees. If, however, the argument was that this boondoggle was necessary to keep top producers from leaving the company, it was wrong to hold the event at this time. An eight day junket will not keep top producers from departing for more secure positions elsewhere (wherever they are?), no matter how good the spa treatments are.

Back in the booming 90's, I participated, both as a guest and a host, in some client "conferences" held in some very nice venues. While there were speakers and panels, there was also golf, tennis, etc, They were at most two days (who could afford to take eight days away from the office??), and we only had them in good years (even as some would argue that the time to go after new business - or reward old business - is in down times).

On a tangent... while I used to be for less regulation - and I still appreciate that the government can often be too cumbersome to be completely effective - I realize now that too many people lose sight of doing the right thing when tempted by money (Robert Willumsted is an exception, though, as he did not accept his $22 million severance). Apparently Enron is too much ancient history and Sarbanes Oxley is not effective enough for Boards of Directors to exercise their fiduciary responsibility and veto excessive compensation (Of American CEOs, I consider less than a dozen people who are really worth the huge compensation they receive).

I am sick of the hard core conservatives who complain about the entitlement programs like Social Security, Medicare, etc., yet turn a deaf ear on Executive entitlements like golden parachutes ("let's give them a tax cut!").

At the end of the day, it is the people's responsibility to inform themselves as much as possible (hard to do when working long hours and taking care of children and elder parents, not to mention just trying to filter misinformation). If you own stocks, vote when you receive the proxy statements. Use your voice. Get involved.

To those who have abused their power and have an inflated sense of self worth and self importance, i do believe what goes around, comes around.

Send the CEO a Bill for the full amount plus 100% penalty; payment due immediately; non-deductible expense. Jail time would make us feel better, but only cost the taxpayers more money for putting them up in one of those white collar country club jails.

I think they should be ashamed. Taking advantage of Americans for personal pleasures. Most Americans can't afford this. I think charges should be charged with theft and replaced. With other banks failing the job pool should be at its greatest.

The corporate employees should all be prosecuted and sent to prison where they could continue to celebrate on the tax payers doller.

I hope every American listening to Obama during the debate. State in plain English “The top executives of AIG should be fired and forced to repay every single dime” I think if you search hard enough, you’ll find some criminal behavior and they should go to jail. I am outraged; the hard working middle class continue to foot the bill for these crooks. This the straw that broke the camels back. NO MORE GAMES WITH THESE TYPE OF PEOPLE, MAKE AN EXAMPLE OUT OF THEM. They continue the same behavior because they have not been punished. What kind of people go on a glorified retreat on the back of the American people. SHAME ON THEM. Philadelphia, PA

this does not make me happy at all that they are able to bail out the AIG with taxpayer's money, then turn around and take $440 thousand dollars for a PARTY while we working taxpayers do not get such perks as bailouts, are suffering and having so much taken way from us while CEO's are STILL raking in the Big Bucks. I agree with Obama- take the Loan BACK, and Fire every BIG-WIG CEO out there- heck, they are the reason that we are in the state we are in now- they DO NOT CARE about the little taxpayer

Outrageous! I understand the need for a planning retreat, but to such a lavish degree - especially when I don't feel free to take a vacation due to monetray concerns? This is a bold, brazen act that typifies the disregard that the insurance/banking community has for consumers.

I live in Idaho and I could take $440,000 and buy a brand new home and fancy new car, and pay the mortgage for one year.

As it is now I CAN NOT EVEN AFFORD TO BUY AN OLD RUN-DOWN HOME. I wanted to buy a home this year, but decided even before the bailout that I would have to wait until next year. Now I won't even be able to buy next year. And no, I am NOT whining. I'm just pissed.

"Loan" usually means that money will be paid back. But I seriously doubt that will happen. In my history, the ONLY company that ever paid back it's government loan is Chrysler. Maybe someone out there knows another one.
And even if any of the bailout money did get paid back, I don't see it helping the tax payers - it will go astray in DC and we will never see the benefits.

Please tell me that AIG's "little" corporate retreat is a joke?! Some sort of elaborate, in really bad taste, hoax. The American taxpayer gets stuck with a HUGE bill to bail out the corporations that screwed us over in the first place and they get to go on an 8 DAY VACATION that most of us can't even dream about. But hey, even though it's almost half a million dollars that's a drop in the $87 billion dollar bucket, so why not.

Nah, of course the financial industry doesn't need government oversight. They've been doing so well on their own (for themselves). And please, PLEASE don't tax those big executives on their golden parachutes since we REALLY need them to spend and pass that money around to us little people who are paying blood and bone for the infrastructure of this country. I'm sure they tip really well when we park their porsche and serve their lobster.

This is one taxpayer who will be pulling up the list of every representative that voted for the bail-out and voting someone else into their office this year. See, eventually we get really tired, yay even pissed off, from the struggle of trying to put gas in our cars, food on our tables and treating our under-educated kids illnesses at home because we can't afford to take them to the doctor.

These fools should:
1. be locked up for 1-2 year (if they are going to be spending tax payers money I rather we spend it on them being in prision to make a point not on spa treatments)
2. be required to repay the money out of their personal bank accounts penalities
3. have their professional licenses pulled. Let's see if they can make it in the real world like most Americans.
what a disgrace!

Yes we are pissed and would like to see the CEO's jailed, and the money taken back.... BUT is anything really going to be done about this? I want to know. If anyone hears anything, please report it here.

These events aren't spur of the moment. The plans had to have been made, and substantial deposits paid, well in advance of the government negotiations and loan. It was probably already paid for...
Having said that, it showed extremely poor judgement to have that many people out on a boondoggle at that time...and they could have gone without the spa treatments...

Does anyone remember how hard Martha Stewart was slammed for her 40,000.00 stock market folly? Does anyone think that stealing taxpayers' money is worse?Does anyone have the guts to stand up and say "I have had all I can stand and I'm not taking it anymore"?

The IRS auditors should decend on AIG like a plague of locusts. Any nit of an infraction should merit the max penalty - jail time where allowed by law - no leniency allowed.

Close attention should be given to any company our Federal Gov't helps out of their crunch and dealings such as this should be addressed...send them all to jail. It's criminal the way they treat the average Joe Blow, the middle class tax-paying citizen who NEVER gets a break.

Ok so we are bailing out big buisnesses because they invested in bag mortgage loans. What about all of the families losing their homes because of greedy lenders and realtors? (I am a Realtor) Why are we not bailing them out? How can the employees from AIG who attended that extravagent retreat live with themselves? How can we live with ourselves? What has become of America? I am afraid for our future.

It's time for these executives and bottom-liners to get their come-uppance - it's time for some street accounting. Prosecute for fraud and money laundering!!! The Mafia runs the Country - let's stop it now.

By the way, just wanted to let everyone know that the same message I posted here I sent to my Senator, Representative and to the Whitehouse. At least it made me feel like I spoke up whether it helps or not.

Of course it is an outrage what is going on in today's business environment and the so called perks they think they are entitled too. I agree with all the other posts about some kind of "explanation and reimbustment for this junket". Sadly they have no soul or heart.

Cait makes an excellent point, especially when the entire House and one third of the Senate is up for election. Silence on any of this mess is not at all golden.

Thank you Cait.

Doesn't matter how "pissed", angry, outraged, etc. we get there is nothing we can do until the nimwits in washington get scared.Anybody have any idea how and when that is going to happen? While the average law abidding American moans and goans and gets all red faced at what's going on, there is no quick solution to what has been going on for years. We demand action NOW and a stop to all the handouts! Do we have to march on Washington!?

Make them pay it back and charge them a prepayment penalty. 6 months of interest.

We need some changes in the way we govern corporations.
1. Shareholder votes need to be mandatory not advisory.
2. Compensation committees need to submit their recommendations to the shareholders for a vote.
3. The owners (shareholdes) of funds not the fund managers get to vote the shares owned by the funds.
4. Make golden parachutes illegal!
5. Make it illegal for an individual to sit on more than one corporate board of a public corp.
6. Make it illegal for one corp to control more than 20% share of any one market segment.

It's outrageous that AIG had such a lavish retreat right after taking such a huge government loan. Even if it had been paid for already, they should have realized what terrible pr it is. They could have had the affair and charged for it to recoup their costs, which would have made everyone a little less enraged.

Even though what they did was stupid and not morally sound, it wasn't technically wrong. At this point, it's not taxpayer money anymore -- it's their money. At this point, they have taken out a loan and are obligated to pay it back. What they do with the money is beyond the sphere of government regulation.

This would be an excellent time for the government to learn a lesson. If you're going to loan a company who is in trouble because of bad business decisions a lot of money, you should probably put some stipulations on their business practices. Like requiring them to abandon extravagant upper management perks and banning golden parachutes.

I think it is a shameful waste of tax dollars. We have many people hungry, homeless and with insurance.

Correction to earlier note: no insurance.

Here's the thing folks don't understand. This was in the making for over a year and was an incentive trip to the sales folks who actually keep the company afloat (they are not the ones who destroyed the company)... it's the bad investments tearing it down. Also, when meeting planning, you sign contracts that you cannot get out of so they would have paid dearly even if this was cancelled. My company puts on events all the time in which I speak at and one of my good friends is our meeting planner and she is always talking to me about the contracts you sign and barring a catastrophic event, you're not getting out of that contract.

Eventhough I agree with all of the above I'll make it plain and simple"JUST DIGUSTING!" I strongly believe that these "IDIOTS" should definetly pay back every penny of our tax dollars they've mismanaged!

I feel that the government should have the CEO of AIG to repay every dime that they have taken from the public and lock them up and throw away the key!!!!!! It ashame that there is so much mismanagement of money.

I believe this is criminal activity and the individuals involved should be prosecuted. To use bailout money for personal use is reprehensible. At the least the government should demand the money back, fine the individuals and put them in jail. The shareholders should sue them for fraud and misuse of company money.

I work 12 hour days at least 4 days per week, I bust my butt to survive and live in the bay area (in a 700 sq. foot condo). I am so sick of working so hard to some people can get away with murder. This has to stop. WHo is doing something about this? What can I do???

Shameful is the right word.

If only we always all agreed so whole-heartedly together, what a beautiful country it would be! :-)

First the Government needs to put them on display in one of those Subcommittee meetings like Roger Clemens and the guys using Steroids had to go before. Then you need to go into each employees bank accounts and offshore accounts where they are hiding the money like Belize and Switzerland and take all but $10,000 to live on this entire next twelve months and what is left reinvest back into the company and reestablish incomes for all employees at minimum wage and let them suffer and if they complain before the business starts to strive and become a solid investment they should go to jail and never see the light of day. Their family should be made to suffer too, wife and kids, so that it makes everyone stop and think before doing it again. This needs to be done to every business and their CEO's that have just wasted the money they are stealing from the working public. I am disabled and I had my settlement that was in ZERO-COUPON Bonds and in the bank stolen by a Lawyer who got a Judge to release my bonds to the guy in charge of SBU,INC. and National Foods, James Gibson. James, his wife and daughter stole $66 million from me and 159 other disabled people and now I am totally broke because the Government would not allow me to get the full amount. The US Atty calculated it to his liking and my money was set up in an irrovocable trust to pay me so much a month and them a lump sum, but I ended up getting a few lumps and now I can't work and I am broke. The US Treasury didn't put numbers on the ZERO-Coupon bonds so they say, but they got their money up front and I got screwed. I payed one lawyer to get an out of court settlement and then had to pay another lawyer to get my own money back from a thief and his cohorts. I think the US Treasury should have had to pay it the way it was set up but how do you fight the Government. I am still trying and that is why I am writing this. I had an FELA case and a Structured Settlement through a Third Party Structuring firm. If there is someone out there who can help me contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

One of the comments was "What can we do?" We may not be able to change corporations, but we can change government! We can't change what has happened, but we can VOTE, and VOTE OUT everyone who is currently in office. Then demand term limits. It will take a while to do this, but we have no alternative. I've seen first hand the waste in government, it MUST BE STOPPED!

I also wrote to my congressmen and told them how I felt. I thanked those who voted no bailout, and told those who voted yes that they had not represented me and that I would be using my power of the ballot.

Several bloggers seem to be defending AIG by stating this "retreat" was probably scheduled a year ago and would be costly to get out of.

AIG didn't go under overnight. This economic down side has been coming on for over a year, the fact that they even PLANNED such an event in these times speaks volumes.

Even if AIG had to pay half of the money to cancel, it would have been better than paying the $440- and reward themselves for such a "great" job.

As for those top sellers that were probably a part of this retreat, if they were that great they would have seen the writing on the wall a long time ago and bailed from AIG before the bailout was even necessary.

I heard a defense of this retreat that stated that the deposit involved was $400,000, and that the attendees were not employees, but rather independent insurance agents who have the option of selling policies from any insurance company. Was this trip a rewards trip for agents that reached their sales goals? I have been on trips sponsored by a company that my husband buys materials from--if you spend X amount with the company you earn a trip. You do have to pay taxes on the value of the trip given to you. All of the attendees of this event should receive a W2 form. It is a public relations nightmare for AIG. I heard that they did cancel another upcoming event because of the uproar surrounding this one. Check your investments to see if AIG is represented in your portfolio. You may be surprised. Many mutual funds had AIG as one of their top positions, so these shenanigans may have already impacted your pocketbook personally, on top of what it's going to cost you in tax dollars.

As a small business owner, where is my bailout? I have to make sound business decisions to stay in business. This amounts to welfare for the giants while the little people are struggling to stay afloat. I say, take the money back. If the government wants to give them some money, it should have been for operational purposes only. If I wanted a loan, my financials would be picked apart before I received the money; the same principle should apply to these corporates that can't seem to make intelligient decisions.