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![]() Really Comfortable ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 1,829 Joined: 11-January 07 From: Kobe, Japan Member No.: 18 ![]() |
AIG cancels planned events amid rebukes for hosting $440,000 function
American International Group Inc. said Thursday that it would cancel most of its planned events after lawmakers castigated the insurer for hosting a $440,000 function at a resort while benefiting from an $85-billion government bailout. The cancellations include an event that was scheduled for next week at the Ritz-Carlton in Northern California's Half Moon Bay. The gathering that drew the rebukes was held last month at the St. Regis Resort in Dana Point. About 100 independent insurance agents who sell coverage for New York-based AIG attended, spending $23,000 on spa services, among other things. Read more here - http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-aig1...0,2353290.story Anyone wonder why we're in the crapper? These clowns almost go under, taxpayers who are losing jobs and homes bail them out - and they're off to a laa-dee-dah spa fxxxing resort??? Obviously nearly going out of business BY THEIR OWN HAND did nothing to change their way of thinking. Jerks. A couple of nice quotes from the article - "This kind of behavior is an insult to taxpayers," the Montana Democrat wrote in a letter to Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. Baucus asked for a response by Oct. 23. "I cannot fathom how in the same day -- the very same day -- that AIG asked the government for another $37.8-billion loan, the company would even consider moving forward with plans to host another large conference at another luxury resort," said Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Maryland Democrat. THEN, skipping another chance to learn they're idiots, they want to ADVERTISE EXPENSIVELY about their screw up. A nice repsonse - "To spend the taxpayer's money on an expensive ad campaign to apologize for how you used taxpayer money leaves you open to further attacks," Sard wrote in an e-mail Wednesday to Ashooh. It just stuns me to think how stupid people who are supposed to be smart have been. |
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![]() Spends WAY too much time at CBTL ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Group: Members Posts: 3,237 Joined: 8-December 06 From: MC Member No.: 3 ![]() |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7651257.stm
Paris scathing about Detroit bail-out By Jorn Madslien Business reporter, BBC News, Paris motor show ![]() Car industry executives at the Paris motor show have kept their eyes firmly on developments across the pond this week. President George W Bush signed legislation that gives US carmakers access to $25bn (£14bn) of cheap government-backed loans to help them develop less polluting cars - a huge bonus for the country's struggling car giants. "General Motors, Ford Motor and Chrysler stand to benefit from low-cost funding at a time when tight credit market conditions make additional borrowing prohibitively expensive for most auto industry participants," the ratings agency Standard & Poor's in a report. Added BMI Industry Insights in a report: "This is expected to save the carmakers millions of dollars in financing alone." The proposed $700bn bail-out of American banks also caught the eye of senior industry figures. The bank bail-out could make it easier for car buyers to raise finance and thus help revive dire sales. Hence, in a last-minute move, General Motors chief Rick Wagoner cancelled his scheduled appearance at the Paris show to throw his weight behind it. European protests European automotive industry executives see the $25bn loan guarantee as a bail-out package that will give American car companies an unfair advantage when it comes to developing less-polluting cars - a point that is not missed by the US authorities. ![]() ![]() ![]() Fritz Henderson, chief operating officer, General Motors "German carmakers view this as subsidies violating competition," observes the CIA, the US intelligence agency, in a research note. But those who see it as a bail-out have got it wrong, insists General Motors' chief operating officer Fritz Henderson. "It's a loan, actually. It's not a gift," he tells BBC News in an interview. "It's all about financing projects, which can range anywhere from a Volt [plug in hybrid] to hybrid vehicles to pretty significant forms of advanced propulsion. ![]() "If society decides we need more oil, we provide tax credits for drilling. The companies make $10bn a quarter. Is that a bail-out? "Or let's take defence companies. Governments chose to underwrite R&D associated with defence. "I am objecting to the characterisation, that this form of government support is a bail-out, whereas this form is something else." Lessons from Washington America's $25bn loan guarantee for carmakers is in stark contrast with the European system, where lawmakers are not offering financial incentives to balance a threat to fine companies if they do not cut emissions. Brussels should take a leaf out of Washington's book, according to Carlos Ghosn, chief executive of alliance partners Renault and Nissan. Governments should "lay down the financial means that will allow us to have low emission cars and zero emission cars", he says, according to industry magazine Automotive News Europe. Jaguar boss David Smith wants the UK government to do the same, according to The Times. VW's hopes Some non-American manufacturers with plants in the US also hope to benefit from the loan guarantee, even though it is not clear they will be able to. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Thierry Dombreval, chief operating officer, Toyota Motor Europe "We will raise our hand when the time comes," says Martin Winterkorn, chief executive of Volkswagen Group, the German company which also makes cars in the US. But there is a clause excluding support for US plants that have been built during the last 20 years. "It's got to be US projects," points out General Motor's Mr Henderson. "It would by and large favour, on balance, US companies." Not enough? Toyota's response to the $25bn worth of cheap loans its American competitors will soon benefit from is rather more lofty. The Japanese carmaker outsells Ford, and possibly GM - depending on what the latest sales figures show, in the US market. "It's OK with us," says Toyota Motor Europe's chief operating officer Thierry Dombreval of the loan guarantee. "Although we are a large-scale producer in the US, we are not facing the same problems," he says, adding: "I don't know whether it'll be enough." Mr Dombreval's view is shared by S&P, which believes that even with legislative and financial help, Detroit's Big Three are a long way from recovery. "The loan package will not improve the Michigan-based automakers' credit and recovery ratings," the agency says in the report. ![]() The difference between genius and stupidity is that there are limits to genius. Albert Einstein
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