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one thing for sure, there is no one in the current admin who is going to get in there and do anything about it. bush? reid? pelosi? no way.
So, maybe this was planned long ago and they had to pay anyway? NOT excusing them, but sometimes it is silly to pay and then NOT go. We will end up going to our cancelled christmas party since we are paying anyway.
Looks like the Wall Street mob is still firmly in control. What's hue got to do with it?
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Nobody wants to admit there are classes in this country any more. Why do you think 18 yr olds and convenience store clerks are issued credit cards? That people making $25K a year were buying houses 10x the amount of their income? Not to mention cars and SUVs that cost as much as a house did 25 years ago. They're only "middle class" because they're in debt up to their eyeballs. Actually knowing you're working class or poor puts you in a whole different political frame of mind, IMHO.
I don't think that's Obama's frame of mind. He's a millionaire now, and he's surrounding himself with millionaires, as President. I hope he does remember his roots, by which I mean all of us working stiffs who voted for him. But his real roots are not all that black, or working class. It's up to us to hold him to his promises, is all I'm saying. We can't just sit it out until the next election. That never worked before. It won't work now.
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http://thesebastards.blogspot.com/
http://money.cnn.com/2008/11/11/news/companies/...
"While some AIG employees were present, the cost was "minimal" to AIG, with more than 90% of the event paid for by attendees or by sponsors, Ashooh said."
Not sure why, but it just doesn't smell right about sponsors paying.
Throw rotten fruit? AIG's executives are stealing from us, plain and simple. If one of them broke into my home to rob me, he'd be looking down the barrel of my Glock .40 until the cops arrived - and if he were carrying anything that could be used as a deadly weapon, I'd give him the full fifteen. Why give these a**holes any better treatment?
This sort of thing is how they get business. All financial firms do this. Heck, all kinds of businesses do this, you know? Meet customers, take them to dinner, pitch them stuff? You know dinners and such are business expenses, right? Ever wonder why they are considered as such, or have you never worked in any kind of business but academia, where you meet folks and do business over tea and muffins at seminars provided by the faculty budget? No, I'm not trying to insult, just seriously asking, here.
What's the point of loaning them money to STAY IN BUSINESS if you don't want to let them, you know, keep doing business?
I co-own a business, and I understand what you're saying re: this being a form of basic marketing. However, at this point I think (IMHO) they'd be justified in doing this sort of thing at a more cost-effective venue and justify it as trimming the fat so they can stay in business.
Also, getting back to my earlier point, no one from a company taking $150 billion in taxpayer bailouts needs to fly First Class. Their midtier execs can fly Air Greyhound (Southwest) and live with minimal elbow room and bags of pretzels at snacktime, just like I do.
My only point was that this knee-jerk howling outrage at them for carrying on their business is silly. This particular event is hardly a good example of something to get pissed about, given that it's not that much to begin with and vendors will pay for most of it.
You can claim that the corporate parent is responsible for not smacking them down, but it's silly to punish AIG's good, solid, fiscally solvent insurance part for any abuses by one small subsidiary company.