AIG Proves My Point for Me

[Nutmeg]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aVXfypExIZ9M&refer=home

Before the bailouts, I started a thread that had Wynn recommending the US Government buy ownership in companies being bailed out and put an end to executive "bonus" pay (and with that I include ridiculous perks) instead of the no strings attached insanity we ended up with. Here is why:

Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- American International Group Inc. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=AIG%3AUS), castigated by lawmakers for hosting a $440,000 conference days after an $85 billion federal bailout, plans to hold another gathering for brokers next week.

The event, at the Ritz-Carlton (http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/HalfMoonBay/Default.htm) in California's Half Moon Bay, aims to ``motivate and educate'' about 150 independent agents who sell AIG coverage to high-end clients, said spokesman Nicholas Ashooh (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Nicholas+Ashooh&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1). ``These sorts of sales meetings are an essential function,'' he said. ``We have them around the world all the time.''

We are getting f#cked.

[Wingtips1]

you obviously have no idea how this "bailout" is working, nor do you have any inkling as to the workings of the insurance brokerage industry.

[Claymore]

I'm guessing the Comfort Inn in Gilroy wasn't available.

[russ]

Enlighten us-tell us how massages and facials sell insurance.

[fatbastard]

Enlighten us-tell us how massages and facials sell insurance.
Don't porn stars have to take out "facials" insurance?
;)

[Wingtips1]

a) AIG never wanted the 'bailout', it was a pre-emptive action taken by the government
b) it is a normal expenditure in the course of business. noboby wants to see AIG's good companies (ie, all but their financial insurance arm) go bad because of government interference in their businesses. this would result in less of the $85 bn 'loan' being repaid at great cost to taxpayers.
c) brokerage meetings held at resorts are going to include expenses for the guests. it isn't as if this is something new that the company is doing to take advantage of the government largesse.

[Nutmeg]

b) it is a normal expenditure in the course of business. noboby wants to see AIG's good companies (ie, all but their financial insurance arm) go bad because of government interference in their businesses. this would result in less of the $85 bn 'loan' being repaid at great cost to taxpayers.
c) brokerage meetings held at resorts are going to include expenses for the guests. it isn't as if this is something new that the company is doing to take advantage of the government largesse.

b) spare me. I'm well aware of what the normal course of business is. I also know that in the normal course of business, if the business can't afford it, stuff like this gets shit canned in a hurry.

c) weak.

[TxDynamo]

figures, i should have known they would wipe there ass with our money.

[SoFla Metro]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aVXfypExIZ9M&refer=home

Before the bailouts, I started a thread that had Wynn recommending the US Government buy ownership in companies being bailed out and put an end to executive "bonus" pay (and with that I include ridiculous perks) instead of the no strings attached insanity we ended up with. Here is why:

Oct. 8 (Bloomberg) -- American International Group Inc. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=AIG%3AUS), castigated by lawmakers for hosting a $440,000 conference days after an $85 billion federal bailout, plans to hold another gathering for brokers next week.

The event, at the Ritz-Carlton (http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/HalfMoonBay/Default.htm) in California's Half Moon Bay, aims to ``motivate and educate'' about 150 independent agents who sell AIG coverage to high-end clients, said spokesman Nicholas Ashooh (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Nicholas+Ashooh&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1). ``These sorts of sales meetings are an essential function,'' he said. ``We have them around the world all the time.''

We are getting f#cked.
Since we the people, through the government, now own a substantial stake in the company, shouldn't the government sue on behalf of shareholders?

[Wingtips1]

b) spare me. I'm well aware of what the normal course of business is. I also know that in the normal course of business, if the business can't afford it, stuff like this gets shit canned in a hurry.

c) weak.

last I checked, AIG is still cash flow positive and able to afford these expenditures.

[SoFla Metro]

a) AIG never wanted the 'bailout', it was a pre-emptive action taken by the government

They may never have wanted the "bailout," but they certainly wanted a bailout.


b) it is a normal expenditure in the course of business. noboby wants to see AIG's good companies (ie, all but their financial insurance arm) go bad because of government interference in their businesses. this would result in less of the $85 bn 'loan' being repaid at great cost to taxpayers.

4 points here:
1) This may have been a "normal expenditure" before, but it's ridiculous in the face of their cries of poverty.
2) Explain how this junket serves the interests of the shareholders. If AIG can show that they earned business in excess of the expenditure, at least they can claim a return on investment. Otherwise, it's a waste of money that should have been used to shore up their weak asset structure.
3) The government now owns approximately 80% of the company. It's no longer "government interference" but rather an activist shareholder.
4) I read somewhere that they've already burned through in excess of $60B of the $85B loan. Something tells me we're never going to see that money again.




c) brokerage meetings held at resorts are going to include expenses for the guests. it isn't as if this is something new that the company is doing to take advantage of the government largesse.
Maybe, maybe not, but when you have new owners, sometimes you have new rules. Whether or not it's new, it's still taking advantage.

[Manolo]

OK, being careful to name names, my girlfriend is an executive event planner for a major insurance company. Due to this recent news, she has just this week been told to renegotiate contracts for upcoming events to less "posh" settings, as well as cancel some of them.

Over the past couple of years, I have consistently been both awed and enraged at the opulence of some of the events she has put together (which its her job to do as a modestly salaried employee). My girlfriend has staged events for these executives and salesmen in Paris, Hawaii, Grand Cayman, and Costa Rica in the past 6 months, at the most luxurious 5-star resorts, flying on plush corporate jets. The descriptions she gives me of the amenities, activities, and accommodations made for these people in my view is almost immoral and decadent.

Now it looks like everybody is going to try to sweep everything under the rug, and hope nobody notices, that in the past few years the financial and insurance industry executives have been spending millions of their company's money on their lavish and extravagant lifestyles, doing things that middle-management types, let alone the general public, could scarcely imagine.

What seems to have happened at AIG is that this culture is so strong they perhaps didn't even realize that it was no longer appropriate in this environment (not that it ever was, but nobody was watching back then).

I agree with Nutmeg...we are getting f#cked, we've been getting f#cked, and people really have to wake up and look at the world around them and not be taken for fools.



(By the way, at my girlfriend's last meeting, an informal poll was taken by a guest speaker, and the vast majority of attendees were supporting McCain)

[BorrachoNJ]

...


October 08, 2008 12:26 PM Eastern Daylight Time
AIG Clarifies Agent Meeting
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--American International Group, Inc. (AIG) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Edward M. Liddy sent a letter today to U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson to clarify the circumstances of a business event held by an AIG subsidiary which was discussed during an October 7, 2008 hearing by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
The event, mischaracterized as an “Executive Retreat,” was held by one of AIG’s insurance subsidiaries for independent life insurance agents, not for AIG employees. These agents were top business producers for the company, and of the more than 100 attendees, only 10 were employees of the AIG subsidiary who were there to represent their company. No AIG executives from headquarters attended. The meeting was planned months before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s loan to AIG.
In his letter, Mr. Liddy assured Secretary Paulson that AIG now faces very different challenges, and “that we owe our employees and the American public new standards and approaches.” Mr. Liddy assured Secretary of the Treasury Paulson that AIG is “reevaluating the costs of all aspects of our operations in light of the new circumstances in which we are all operating.”
Mr. Liddy concluded, that “AIG is focused on doing what is necessary to address our capital structure, repay the Fed credit facility and emerge as a healthy global insurer. In the meantime, our insurance businesses continue to operate normally and satisfy the needs of our policy holders.”
American International Group, Inc. (AIG), a world leader in insurance and financial services, is the leading international insurance organization with operations in more than 130 countries and jurisdictions. AIG companies serve commercial, institutional and individual customers through the most extensive worldwide property-casualty and life insurance networks of any insurer. In addition, AIG companies are leading providers of retirement services, financial services and asset management around the world. AIG's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, as well as the stock exchanges in Ireland and Tokyo.
Contacts
American International Group, Inc.
Nicholas J. Ashooh, 212-770-3523
Senior Vice President, Communications

[Deep Wilcox]

last I checked, AIG is still cash flow positive and able to afford these expenditures.


Well Dana Peroxide at the White house just called it "despicable".

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27086714/

So you are a bit on an island thinking AIG did the right thing. I think AIG had to give up 80% of their equity to get the bail out, so they must have hsd SOME cash flow issues; or they are just stupid to give away the company to hte feds. Whatever, we are all commies now!!

[JeremyEritrea]

you obviously have no idea how this "bailout" is working, nor do you have any inkling as to the workings of the insurance brokerage industry.

a) AIG never wanted the 'bailout', it was a pre-emptive action taken by the government
b) it is a normal expenditure in the course of business. noboby wants to see AIG's good companies (ie, all but their financial insurance arm) go bad because of government interference in their businesses. this would result in less of the $85 bn 'loan' being repaid at great cost to taxpayers.
c) brokerage meetings held at resorts are going to include expenses for the guests. it isn't as if this is something new that the company is doing to take advantage of the government largesse.

last I checked, AIG is still cash flow positive and able to afford these expenditures.

Holy shit. I can't believe ANYONE is defending these assholes blowing half a million bucks on spa treatments after the government bailed them out.

[DamonEsquire]

See yall can't crack the top ten. The spa is always the kicker because aint nobody, in there right mind; going to pay $4,500. for some finger tip touching. Least of all green slim just like the cursor of past. Heck! Here in Kentucky. You think finger tips + 4500 first thing you come too is a weight limit in an elevator or used cars. That would be pounds not ounces. Cars and bars! Peace<>

[yossarian]

Holy shit. I can't believe ANYONE is defending these assholes blowing half a million bucks on spa treatments after the government bailed them out.

Wingtips reserves his ire for SNL scrubbing a skit making fun of George Soros and Barney Frank. It's unconstitutional, apparently.

[VFish]

Ugh, AIG getting another $38 billion loan. I really hope this money gets paid back.

[JeremyEritrea]

Ugh, AIG getting another $38 billion loan. I really hope this money gets paid back.

Paid back?

Ha ha ha ha ha.

[VFish]

Paid back?

Ha ha ha ha ha.These are loans, are they not? I assume if AIG remains solvent we get paid back.