Posted On: October 10, 2008, 3:15 pm CDT

Posted By: bob

So many of you 'taxpayers' are so high and mighty on your AIG bash-wagon (via sensational media headlines and politicians making inaccurate/unchecked statments that truly rival the nat'l enquirer and TMZ) - did you ever ponder this? Think about how our congressman and senators live life daily 'as elected by taxpayer' civil servants. 1st class airline travel on a regular basis (if not by private jet), 1st class luncheons at the nicest establishments daily, huge house (yes, houses), nice cars, nice clothes, wasted spending bills without finding ways to cut expenses... Price that out line by line, politician by politician... THAT IS YOUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS AT-WORK, EVERYDAY, YEAR AFTER YEAR, for the 'average' politician (aka fatcat). Do you really find that acceptable while joe public is trying hard just to pay the bills every month? Of course it is not okay and we all know this taxpayer waste is going on to the nth degree, but joe public blissfully turns his/her head because the issue is SO much bigger and harder to change than AIG's issue (why would the fatcats change what makes their job desirable and would take away those perks). AIG's $440k business spend is not even a drop-in that political spend bucket each month. Ponder this...when did becoming an elected offical provide a level of stardom and wealth that rivals the biggest entertainers out there?? If this AIG sales practice enrages you so much, HOW CAN YOU NOT be enraged at the politicians who created this mess and are deperately trying to stay out of headlines by pointing fingers and having congressional hearings with these companies (acting like the companies are what brought america to it's knees - pleeasssee).

Do us all a favor and become better informed before you start bashing and throwing around tax-payer waste rhetoric. AIG was, and IS, the best at insurance (their core business) in the world, and they are making a good and fair profit (93% combined ratio thru 2nd qtr). They create 2 new industry products a week! Many of you in this posting chain said it right - AIG has a line of credit with the Fed/Treasury and is NOT run by joe public, and will emerge from this short-term with the taxpayers receiving their full $85B + extortion-level interest rates and with some much-needed shedding of non-insurance assets. (Worst -case, AIG is liquidated as a company and uses their $1Trillion in Assets to pay off the taxpayer-provided line of credit). No harm. AIG is a just a big company in a capitalist environment suffering short-term liquidity in a unprecented capital/credit freeze and a derivatives issue valued at over $56Trillion globally - so let them run their business and deal with their issues internally as all the others get to do. (Trust me, $440k is a tiny check for this type of event for most mid-sized companies, and yes, they ALL do it; lucky for the others, they are not in the headlines - yet).

Sorry for the long-winded opinion. I just ask that you think about what we as taxpayers put up with everyday in politics and put this AIG $440k producer event in perspective, and then in the closet. It is a NON-ISSUE in the business world. And tax-payers ARE NOT going to foot the bill for it. Can't say the same for the politicians paychecks. Thanks and let's all hope the fear-mongers driving this stock crash get off the bus sooner than later.