AIG subsidiary parties like it's 1929

Remember how, just last month, AIG teetered on the brink of financial apocalypse? The effects of the insurance giant's imminent collapse were deemed so dire that the Federal Reserve galloped to the rescue with $85 billion of your (and my) tax dollars.

What a difference two weeks make. With its parent company safe (for now), execs at one of AIG's subsidiaries have descended on the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort (ocean-view rooms -- just $565 per night!) for a little celebration. The OC Register's excellent blog, the OC Watchdog, has the details:

On Friday, before the presidential debate got under way, caterers for the St. Regis were setting up dozens of tables on the grounds of Mission San Juan Capistrano for AIG American General’s sumptuous offsite dinner. Tables were draped with soft Tuscan-gold tablecloths that cascaded to the grass; elegant fresh flower centerpiece graced each table; and what appeared to be fine crystal stemware, at least from a distance, glistened in the fading light.

Workers set up a lengthy bar stocked with bottles of liquor. A half-dozen tall space heaters stood sentinel in case the evening turned cool. There was a large center stage with lighting and a sound system, and once the sun went down, the whole scene took on a magical patina as tiny white lights twinkled in the trees.

Not what it seems, according to AIG, as the subsidiary in question is in good financial shape. The whole back-and-forth is in the OC Watchdog's post.

-- Veronique de Turenne

Photo: TimmyGUNZ / Flickr, via Creative Commons

Comments

[Wily Trax]

We should put them all on their personal yachts and send them on vacation to the Somali coast.

http://www.WilyTrax.com

[Mlchael Waechter]

I think the party was perfectly O.K. The AIG division in question, the property and casualty division, was and is profitable. The participants probably just lost their nest eggs, 401K's stock options etc. To keep the top salesmen from going to the competition, AIG through a motivating party.

[NotMyZipCode]

How apropos, spectacle and excess in OC -- the ugliest, most crass and tasteless region in the nation, and very much central to the insidious mortgage investment schemes and criminal greed that have looted the country. You couldn't pay me a hundred 401K's to live in the inveterate cesspool that is OC.

[Kathy Skelly]

Take away the luxury ammenities, store them in secure and climate controlled storage to pull out in better times and let the locals enjoy the view. Secondly, maybe they could market to a less wealthy target group. That would trickle through the economy - air tickets, rental cars, gas, meals out, and day trips to Southern California. I'm just thankful I grew up in California in a time in which I didn't have to spend so much to get a view. Besides, someone may as well enjoy the view at a fraction of the current rates because we're all going to be paying Citibank's way out this fiasco.