$86,000 in Taxpayer Money for a Hunting Trip?!

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$86,000 in Taxpayer Money for a Hunting Trip?!



Whoops-a-daisy, AIG. Looks like the insurance giant has been making a couple of teensy-weensy billion-dollar mistakes lately!

Let's see. First, American International Group (AIG) received $85 billion from the Federal Reserve last month in order to stay afloat … and then they reportedly treated their top agents to a $440,000 week at a fancy-schmancy spa. Investigators were not impressed.

But hey, we all make mistakes (though most of mine don't reach the six-figure range), so when AIG needed an additional $37.8 billion, the Federal Reserve was willing to hand over taxpayer money to help out.

And then AIG reportedly spent $86,000 on a hunting trip.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g3InVeHoYnmXZnM2ACXSgjG0-nIQD93R68VO0

I have to confess here that I don't know how expensive hunting equipment is—I wouldn't come within 50 feet of that cruel and unnecessary "sport"—but something tells me that $86,000 might be a little much.

According to an AIG spokesman, the killing—I'm sorry, hunting—trip "was an annual event for customers" and was "planned months before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's loan to AIG."

Yeah, I'm sorry, but maybe they should've thought about how this would look to taxpayers. "Gee, thanks for the $37 billion—I'm goin' to England to slaughter some animals!"

To put it mildly, people are rather miffed at AIG's cavalier spending habits. White House Press Secretary Dana Perino called the spa trip "despicable," and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is investigating all these "unwarranted and outrageous expenditures," http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2008/10/16/cuomo_calls_for_end_to_aigs_party/ saying on Wednesday, "The party is over. No more hunting trips. No more luxury resorts. They are not going to have the party and leave the hangover for the taxpayers."

Poor AIG. They just can't get a break—oh, wait, they did, and then they decided to go hunting with it.

Posted by Amanda Schinke
http://blog.peta.org/archives/2008/10/86000_in_taxpay.php

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