Tax Payers // Current

Under Fire, AIG Cancels 160 Meetings and Events

Responding to media reports criticizing it for participating in a sales meeting last week at a luxury resort in Phoenix, insurance giant American International Group Inc. (AIG) has issued a statement in which it says it has cancelled more than 160 events and approved just one—last week's meeting, which AIG Chairman and CEO Edward M. Liddy called an "essential" training seminar.

AIG originally came under fire in September, when it spent $440,000 on a week-long luxury retreat for its brokers at the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, Calif., less than a week after receiving an $85 billion government loan. At that time, Liddy issued a statement in which he promised that AIG was "reevaluating the costs of all aspects of our operations in light of the new [economic] circumstances in which we are all operating."

On Monday, ABC News broke news of last week's Phoenix event—the same day that the U.S. government announced plans to restructure the economic bailout plan that Congress passed into law this fall, and to increase its aid to AIG by more than $50 billion, to approximately $150 billion.

Along with event sponsors, AIG insists, independent financial planners—not AIG employees, and not American taxpayers—paid more than 90 percent of costs for last week's event.

"Recent news reports have grossly mischaracterized an American International Group seminar for 150 independent financial planners held in Phoenix last week," Liddy said in a prepared statement. "It is essential for AIG to conduct seminars of this kind to keep independent financial planners abreast of investment products and services including those offered by AIG."

According to Liddy, AIG has canceled all "nonessential" meetings—presumably of large consequence to the hotels that were contracted to host them—and approved only events that will help the company generate revenue with which to repay its government loan.

Concluded Liddy: "On Oct. 10, I issued a directive to all AIG employees and subsidiaries to reduce expenses and conserve cash, including canceling all nonessential conferences or meetings, unnecessary travel and excessive overhead. Since then, we have canceled more than 160 events. We conducted a top-to-bottom review of all expenses of the Phoenix meeting in advance and found that it was consistent with my Oct. 10 directive. This conference was approved because it provides the kind of communication we must conduct with the people who sell our products if we are to be successful and repay the U.S. taxpayer."Responding to media reports criticizing it for participating in a sales meeting last week at a luxury resort in Phoenix, insurance... more

Apocalipstick
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19 days ago

$50,000 taxpayer bucks for government portrait paitings

Behind every great man or woman in Washington there is a great painting. As the Bush presidency draws to a close, portrait artists can expect a surge in business from Cabinet secretaries and other elite political appointees who want to preserve their legacies -- and their images -- for posterity.

The Commerce Department, for instance, recently requested artists' bids to paint a likeness of Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez, who has served since early 2005. The contract pays up to $35,000, and Gutierrez gets to select the winning painter, said Rick Dubik, the department's director of administration.

The Coast Guard in August awarded a $12,000 contract for a portrait of Adm. Thad W. Allen, a sharp drop from the $23,500 it spent in 2005 for a likeness of Allen's predecessor as commandant, Adm. Thomas H. Collins. "We have a very strong sense of history and this is a critical part of it, having that formal tie to the past," said Coast Guard spokeswoman Angela Hirsch.

But investing taxpayer money in the time-honored art of official portraiture has become increasingly controversial. In a throwback to the Jimmy Carter era, some fiscal watchdogs and government scholars suggest that high-quality photographs would be a more cost-efficient way to honor departing dignitaries, especially because most portraits are largely inaccessible to the public.

The price of original portraiture ranges widely. In a sampling, The Washington Post examined summaries of 30 portrait contracts, most awarded with no competitive bidding, and found costs ranging from $7,500 to nearly $50,000. Officials say costs sometimes run higher.

At the upper end of the scale, the Defense Department awaits the expected February completion of a $46,790 portrait of controversial former secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. It will grace a Pentagon hallway lined with portraits of his predecessors, as well as one from Rumsfeld's first stint as defense secretary from 1975 to 1977, officials said.
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"Thirty to $35,000, believe it or not, is actually cheap," said Dubik, who has overseen portrait commissions for several of the Commerce Department's 34 past secretaries. "Most of the artists out there, if you look at some of them and what their charges are, it's basically anywhere from $50,000 to $75,000."

More at link.

How nice of us all to pay for such lovely art! Aren't we the public feeling generous, even in this time of recession, to show our government how much we trust and admire them with these gifts!

...Behind every great man or woman in Washington there is a great painting. As the Bush presidency draws to a close, portrait artists... more

DeliaTheArtist
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1 month ago

Tax Payers Money Not To Be Used

I have a suggestion to help calm the economy via the housing market. This could be done without using tax payer's money. Essentially, it would be a form of downsizing or in a sense a shuffling of the deck with regards to the housing market. My suggestion is as follows:

Take two types of homes:
a) Homes that have already been foreclosed
b) Homes headed for certain foreclosure

A new government regulated process, with accountability and transparency, oversees the transference of a current homeowner facing foreclosure into a smaller home that is vacant due to foreclosure. This would be done only if both parties are in agreement. The homeowner’s equities would be transferred accordingly to this foreclosed property. This transference of equity would have to be determined by a new government formula that would be fair to both homeowner and lender. it would be based on length of time in the home and the dollar amount of the said equity (a form of prorating). In addition the said property would have to be re-appraised to current values. The homeowner would have to be re-qualified based on their abilities to meet their current debt load and the new loan payment on said foreclosed property.

The new loan should be a (proposed) 30 year loan equivalent to the current interest rate (approximately 6%), but should be fixed so there can be no surprises later. No ARMS! This allows the current homeowners to retain their credit, their assets, and their will to continue making payments on all of their debts. The loaning institutions would benefit by slowing down this tremendous foreclosure rate and by eliminating some of their foreclosed properties as well as freeing up loaning monies.

This would bolster the economy in many ways. Debtors would continue to make good on their current debts and loaning institutions would be able to continue to make new loans. Maybe with this change the $700 billion bail out could be used in other areas of economic stimulus and the effects could be farther reaching. The tax payers would be freed from incurring this burden and our economy might be able to rebound.
Thank you, Byron
I have a suggestion to help calm the economy via the housing market. This could be done without using tax payer's money.... more

JuliusBC
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1 month ago

US nationalizes banks, candidates talk economy

Mike Whitney: Both candidates promote stimulus but real solution is higher wages.

US President George W Bush made the radical announcement on Tuesday of the partial nationalization of the nine of the nation's leading banks. The move to part ownership by the government, was made to ensure that the banks won't be hoarding their bailout money, but use it to bolster lending -- to each other and to customers. The Presidential candidates also announced their economic proposals to deal with the current financial meltdown. Barack Obama spoke in Ohio on Monday: "Today, I'm also proposing a 3 month moratorium on foreclosures. If you're a bank or a lender that is getting money from the rescue plan that passed congress and your customers are making a good faith effort to make their mortgage payments and renegotiate their mortgage, you will not be able to foreclose on their home for 3 months." Obama also proposed allowing people to withdraw up to 10 thousand dollars from their retirement accounts without any penalty for the remainder of the year and 2009. A $3,000 tax credit for every new full-time job created in the US by businesses for the next 2 years. To suspend the tax on unemployment benefits for the rest of this year and next. And to have the Federal Reserve provide short-term loans to state and local governments caught in the credit crunch. John McCain made his announcement in Pennsylvania Tuesday."On my orders, the Department of the Treasury will guarantee one hundred percent of all savings accounts for a period of six months. - I will cut in half the capital gains tax on stocks purchased and held for more than a year from a rate of 15 to 7.5 percent.” McCain also proposed that for 2009 – 2010, those over 59 who take money out of their retirement accounts should only be taxed at 10%. To Raise the deduction on stock losses from $3000 to $15000, And like Obama, to suspend the tax on unemployment benefits for the rest of this year and next. The Real News Network spoke to Counterpunch columnist Mike Whitney.

Mike Whitney is a columnist for Counterpunch.org, Smirkingchimp.com and Opednews.com. He admits that his interest in politics only began with the appointment of GW Bush as President. Like many other regular Americans, he has understood from the very beginning the global aspirations of the Cabal that presently occupies 1600 Pennsylvania Ave and the threat they pose to the world. It is a threat that is as real and as far reaching as any we have seen since the rise of Fascism in 1930s Germany (The author's description of himself).

Mike Whitney: Both candidates promote stimulus but real solution is higher wages. US President George W Bush made the radical... more