Douche Bags Of The Week: AIG CXOs

My bff and I have had lunch overlooking the Pacific Ocean at the St. Regis many a time. It's beautiful. It's elegant. It ain't cheap.

Days after it got a federal bailout, AIG (American International Group Inc.) spent $440,000 on a posh California retreat for its executives, complete with spa treatments, banquets and golf outings, according to lawmakers investigating the company's meltdown.

AIG sent its executives to the coastal St. Regis resort south of Los Angeles even as the company tapped into an $85 billion loan from the government it needed to stave off bankruptcy. The resort tab included $23,380 worth of spa treatments for AIG employees, according to invoices the resort turned over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

The retreat didn't include anyone from the financial products division that nearly drove AIG under, but lawmakers still were enraged over thousands of dollars spent on outing for executives of AIG's main U.S. life insurance subsidiary.

—SNIP—

"Those executives should be fired," Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama said at a debate with Sen. John McCain on Tuesday, referring to the retreat participants. Obama also said AIG should give the Treasury $440,000 to cover the costs of the retreat.

But Eric Dinallo, superintendent of the New York State Insurance Department, said he could see the value of such a retreat under the circumstances.

"Having been at large global companies and knowing what condition AIG was in ... the absolute worst thing that could have happened" would have been for employees and underwriters in its life insurance subsidiary to flee the company.

Ummmm, almost any alternative would have been cheaper than the St. Regis. I used to travel a lot for work, and we were in a competitive industry, so we doubled up on rooms, there were no spa treatments, we rented a van rather than everyone taking cabs, etc.

Now give us our money back!