Saturday, March 21, 2009

AIG sparks "Lifestyles of the Rich & Infamous" tour (from Reuter)

A small political party angry at bonuses paid to staff of bailed out insurance giant American International Group is organizing a bus tour to the Connecticut homes of several AIG executives.

"We're all mad at AIG," the Connecticut Working Families Party, a small liberal party, said on its Web site, inviting people to sign up for its "Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous" bus tour and a rally at the company's Wilton, Connecticut, headquarters, on Saturday.

"Their executives bear a large share of the responsibility for bringing the economy to its knees, and now the same folks are getting hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses -- at our expense," the website said.

Hefty bonuses paid to AIG executives after a $180 billion government bailout have sparked outrage. The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill taxing such payments at a 90 percent rate, but the Senate has yet to act.

AIG employees have expressed concern about the safety of workers who were paid a total of $165 million in bonuses. Some AIG executives have received death threats.

AIG did not have any immediate comment.

A spokesman for the Connecticut Working Families Party declined to say which AIG executives would be visited on the tour. He said the bus would hold about 50 people.

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