Hey Uncle Sam! Can you make that bailout $85,000,440,000?

You are an executive at AIG and you have royally messed up your company. Of course you don't blame yourself there are plenty of others who are at fault. But lets not play the blame game; let's work together with the government to fix this. $85 billion should do the job. And when the government says sure, why not; you roll up your sleeves and get to work right? Nope, you and a few other execs spend a week at a spa at a cost of $440,000! Maybe Las Vegas for the next bailout! It's a sign of the times...stupidity. Did they really think that this would'nt leak? Did they not know how this would look? It doesn't matter. The company will still get its $85 billion and the execs will still get their salaries or parachutes. There are consequences to AIG and to Congress for this debacle. And there are consequences to our inaction in taking responsibility for our own futures.

Check out the ABC article for more on the story.

Less than a week after the federal government committed $85 billion to bail out AIG, executives of the giant AIG insurance company headed for a week-long retreat at a luxury resort and spa, the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, California, Congressional investigators revealed today.
Two AIG CEOs testify to Congress about their use of taxpayer bailout money.

"Rooms at this resort can cost over $1,000 a night," Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) said this morning as his committee continued its investigation of Wall Street and its CEOs.

AIG documents obtained by Waxman's investigators show the company paid more than $440,000 for the retreat, including nearly $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals and $23,000 in spa charges.

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

"This unbridled greed," said Cong. Mark Souder (R-IN), "it's an insensitivity to how people are spending our dollars."

Appearing before the committee, Martin Sullivan, the AIG CEO until June, said the company was overwhelmed by a "financial global tsunami," and that "no simple or single cause" was to blame.