Activists Hosting 'Bus Tours' Of AIG Executives' Homes

On Saturday, the Working Families party is organizing a "Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous" bus tour of Connecticut homes belonging to executives from the American International Group's disastrous Financial Products division.

Working Families spokesman Bryan Collinsworth says the people on the bus will not be "stereotypical radical activists" -- just regular folks facing hard times looking to give AIG a piece of their minds.

At each executive's house, the bus will stop and attempt to deliver a letter detailing working people's problems.

AIG, beneficiary of billions in taxpayer dollars after Financial Products precipitated the company's near-failure, has stoked outrage for delivering $165 million in bonuses to the division's employees. The tour comes after a week in which fury at AIG swelled to epic proportions, with politicians calling for industry executives to commit Samurai-style suicide and protests outside local AIG offices across the country. AIG's government-appointed CEO, Edward Liddy, told Congress on Wednesday that death threats had been rolling in; some employees have even stationed guards outside their homes.

Collinsworth says Connecticut police have been notified of the event, and everyone who rides the bus has signed a non-violence pledge. The tour will conclude with a rally outside the Financial Products division headquarters in Wilton.

Working Families shared some of the soon-to-be-delivered letters with the Huffington Post. Here's one, from a woman identified as Faith:

My mother is an 83-year-old single woman suffering from Post Polio Syndrome. She has been waiting for more than one year for payment of the money AIG approved for damage due to a broken pipe that destroyed the first floor of her single family, two-story house in January, 2008. During the past year, AIG has done everything in their power NOT to pay the money due, including subjecting her to a 5+ hour deposition for which she had to hire an attorney. I would like to ask one of the AIG executives who received a $1M+ bonus: would you consider giving my mother a loan while your adjusters and underwriters at AIG continue to delay the payment AIG has already approved? Because right now, she's living on balance transfers and hand-outs from her children -- taxpayers who paid for your bonus. After spending a lifetime at work so that she could afford to pay her homeowner's insurance premium each month, on time, every year for the last 49 years, do you think you could do her this one little favor?

Comments

[PhilipTaylor]

07:41 AM on 03/23/2009

NOT "1" Goldman/Big Bank Executive has been Fired, Fined, Investigated, or Prosecuted for:

1. Manufacture/Sell of "Sure Fail" Mortgages or buy from a broker!
2. Make a "SURE FAIL" Derivative out of parts of a bunch of "SURE FAIL" Mortgages!
3. Buy AIG insurance: Bet Repeatedly and Massively that defective product will FAIL!
4. Wait and Collect the Insurance on the FAILURE!

Not only is this a form of "Generated Insider Trading" but it violates the Laws governing Defective Products.

DEFECTIVE PRODUCT - A product is unreasonably dangerous to the user, when it has a propensity for causing harm beyond that which would be contemplated by the ordinary user having knowledge of the product's use.

Product liability law governs the manufacturers and sellers for damages caused by dangerous products. The goal of laws are to help protect consumers from dangerous products, while holding manufacturers and sellers responsible for putting into the marketplace products that they knew or should have known were dangerous. Product liability extends to defects in real estate loans.

GROUNDS for Prosecution:

Product is dangerous when used as intended.

Manufacturer: required to make a product which is free from dangerous conditions.

Marketing Defects: A marketing defect involves such issues as inadequate warning labels or instructions, which, for example, prevent a user from recognizing a defect in the product, or from being aware of how to safely use or apply the product.

[SueInCA]

08:33 PM on 03/22/2009

When are they going to start in on Goldman Sach, Paulson's home as well as Neil Karkashi? AIG paid Goldman out of their bailout funds and no one is making a whimper about that one. Go get
AIG, but include Goldman on that tour

[ramblingjohnny]

07:49 AM on 03/22/2009

Humm... How charming the peasants are visiting us and they got torch, pitchfork and rope... I wonder what they want?

[hellboundtrain]

06:04 AM on 03/22/2009

So in 2008 the net profit margin for AIG was -904.6%, so they lost a whole ocean of money!

Now, because of the specialists astute business decisions, the whole of the U.S. is on the line for billions and trillions MORE!

What about any of this is considered behavior worthy of bonus??

White collar crime pays well.

[Truby]

02:28 AM on 03/22/2009

Riding by these homes and looking at examples of vast wealth is all well and good, but what of the influence these money buys? These same people (and the corporations employing them) have donated many millions to the very same people that allowed them to drive their companies and our economy into the ground and then agreed to bail them out. All a little too cozy.

Reform the campaign finance laws, limit donations to voter eligible citizens. Return our government to "We The People".

[GlobalWarmingHoax]

11:01 PM on 03/21/2009

Why don't they bus by Franklin Raines and Jaime Gorelick's homes to request the return of the money they hijacked from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? What about the current salaries and bonuses paid to the current exec's at Fannie and Freddie? Oh, that's right, they are liberal hacks given gravy train jobs that the taxpayers pay for.

[JRsNana]

11:03 AM on 03/22/2009

Ditto - go play with the other ditto's. We're having a conversation here.

[jcgrim]

03:14 PM on 03/22/2009

Good idea. Then we can take a ride by the mansion of Eric Prince, founder of Blackwater (now known as Xe). Taxpayers payed his company $1,024,519,018.00 between 2001 to 2006. Their no-bid, cost plus contract charged us $1,222 per day for their services - more than 6 times the cost of an equivalent U.S. soldier.
He's a fine patriot and war profiteer in the Bush family tradition. His profits increased exponentially during the Bush/Cheney years due to his republican party donations and proximity to the Bush/Cheney circle of friends.

[SueInCA]

08:38 PM on 03/22/2009

Not to mention the number of troops electrocuted by their shoddy work

[RaeDae]

08:51 PM on 03/21/2009

It seems to me we have two choices:

1. Tax off 90% of the bonuses for those being bailed out.

2. Set the highest income tax rate at 90% - which this country has done before (actually it was 91%, but we'll just go to 90% this time).

Which will be the best solution for the long haul? I'd say the second one, though there is always a third option:

3. Do both 1 and 2.

Taking a bus of people out to the homes of those with ill-gotten gains is a good idea, but really, we ought to be taking those gains and using them for the greater good. If the rich cared about the rest of us they'd have made sure there was affordable health care for all in the private sector, but they have not. So tax away, tax away, tax away all (or most) of the ill-gotten gains and let the money of the country go for what is good for the people of the country - let everyone get decent medical care when they are sick and not have to worry about losing their home to do it or having to nearly starve the rest of the family to pay for lifesaving care for the sick one. If this cuts into the golf or yachting time of some rich person, TOO BAD.

And the pastbhigh tax rates did not hurt our prosperity any - check it out!

http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxfacts/displayafact.cfm?Docid=213

[sandyinohio]

02:58 PM on 03/22/2009

We have charity in this country. We have help for people who cannot pay their bills. Did anyone refuse the labor room or the R&B for the octomom & her babies? NO! I refuse to believe that people who have money or a house need to sell it to be paid to hospitals; I've SEEN them take care of all comers. People who sign a work contract for specified amounts of pay are not to be accused of "ill-gotten gains". Yes, if their company got taxpayer help, then yes they should not get to keep it. But what about the people in the other divisions of the company, who did not do anything to bring the company or economy down? Now Obama is talking about limiting the pay of all executives in any company! Wrong, just plain wrong...that is what a board of directors is to determine. This isn't a communist state YET...we do not ALL work for the "common good", whoever decides what THAT is!

[propitiousmoment]

06:32 PM on 03/21/2009

There are two things about the bailout/bonus situation that make it likely for people to do these kinds of protest rather than storm the congress and wall street en masse like the french revolution:

1. These are individuals and not some faceless glass-walled "corporation" - it's easier to focus on them

2. The amounts of money involved are at the same time immense in comparison to what it would take to bailout the average ordinary person who may be hurting as a result of these creeps' behavior, and small enough to get our minds around - does anybody really comprehend how much a billion dollars is, let alone a trillion? But a six million dollar bonus, to one of the perps no less, when my individual gross wages may top $40k or $60k in a good year, now that's a disparity and an outrage I can understand.

[sandyinohio]

03:00 PM on 03/22/2009

What ever gave you the idea of our republic is here to level the disparity? Oh, never mind, Obama did... what a joke. You enjoy the right of the pursuit don't you? That's all you are guaranteed.

[truthartbeauty]

06:30 PM on 03/21/2009

eventually the masses with take their flaming torches and take to the streets and storm the palace.

[sueinmn]

06:37 PM on 03/21/2009

Most likely we will take to the streets to back Obama to get Bills passed with out diluting them as Congress manages to do! They simply ignor us as "pay to play " works better for them.
Beginning with the EFCA. It is being proposed now for a 70% majority. They want to rewrite democracy and majority rule. (companies do) Then Healthcare, we can not afford to allow the dillusion of this to pass by. This is a make or break for all of us. Small business cannot afford decent wages with the cost of healthcare, we can no longer afford to pay the price with it or with out it. Its killing us financially.

[sandyinohio]

03:29 PM on 03/22/2009

Yeh, EFCA just wants to take away your secret ballot, huh? sound logic here?

[Tommygun264]

04:42 PM on 03/21/2009

All of you who say this is a waste of time and effort are missing the point - the populist outrage over these bonuses is going to give the Obama administration the political capital they are going to need to push through the regulatory legislation necessary to fix this economy. The pubs in Congress aren't going to agree to anything unless they are made to understand that the American people want justice and will sweep anyone who stands in the way of responsible regulation out of office. Or perhaps those of you who are advocating just letting this go and moving on do understand.

[sueinmn]

05:21 PM on 03/21/2009

I hope your correct as Congress gets dined by the lobbying groups and their vision becomes blurred to whom they represent. Obama cannot do this alone. This may be our calling!

[nicole473]

06:06 PM on 03/21/2009

It is a waste of time and effort. Protests are fine. Hitting at individuals by going to their homes is not only a waste of time, it has the potential to turn in to a disaster, not to mention a public relations nightmare for Obama.

Additionally, the only way to get through to lawmakers is with your vote. Re-regulation will happen regardless.

[maori]

09:00 PM on 03/21/2009

I'm not sure how this reflects on Obama.
The tour isn't his idea, he's got nothing to do with it.

[Eres]

10:54 PM on 03/21/2009

How would an individual's personal decision to protest these greedy f*ckers where they live affect Obama?
While it might be a unique concept to the average right-winger Rethug, some people do think (and act) for themselves.

[Oxonian2001]

03:22 PM on 03/21/2009

Do you know why these folks are going to the homes and not just protesting at their offices?

It's because they know that the crisis have literally hit HOME for many Americans. Many of us are fearing for our jobs, livelihoods, and yes--HOMES.

So they're taking this argument literally to the homefront of the folks who tore down the American economy.

Fair, no?

[sueinmn]

04:02 PM on 03/21/2009

Taking it home where the entire family can share in ones shame is good for them! The children can feel humility for their father's sins!

[nicole473]

06:47 PM on 03/21/2009

Real nice. Not.

[Shaddup]

02:49 PM on 03/21/2009

Please send busses of homeless, hungry people. The banskters have a debt to repay. Some may think this is too much, but personally I don't care if it's AIG, Citibank, Exxon, corporations are not people, and have spent the last thirty years proving it at humanity's expense.

[babyboomerorig]

05:59 PM on 03/21/2009

And charge each bus to a different corporation. They wouldn't notice.

[sandyinohio]

03:18 PM on 03/22/2009

I hope you two are still employed...by corporations?????????

[Ravenback47]

02:36 PM on 03/21/2009

This whole thing is getting ridiculous. It's good to see people finally get angry about something. However, I find it sad that America is all up in arms over $165 million, but sat on its collective ass for several years while we went to war against a country that was no threat to us. Over 4000 American soldiers dead, no anger. Over 30,000 injured, no anger. Over 100,000 Iraqis killed, no anger. Terrorist suspects tortured, which is a violation of our principles and the Geneva Convention, no anger. Passage of the Patriot Act, no anger. Our private communications monitored without warrants from the courts, no anger. Hundreds of billions of dollars wasted, including over $100 billion transferred to a company once headed by Dick Cheney, no anger. Purposely lied to about WMDs in Iraq, no anger. I could list many, many more things. But we blow up over $165 million. I know the arguments for being upset over the bonuses so I don't need anyone to explain it to me. This whole outcry just highlights the shallowness of American society at times. Next time, maybe if we get angry over the things that really cost our country, we can prevent them from happening in the first place.

[TallyLass]

03:23 PM on 03/21/2009

I heard that on Bill Maher last night "America is all up in arms over $165 million". Although I agree some of your statments. I disagree that people are mad only about the 165mil. I think the 165 mil is just the catalyst for the outrage that is being felt and displayed.

I would have like to have seen the outrage sooner, too. But it is here now and what we have to do is to keep the pressure on and never go back to complacency. I have said time and time again, that folks will have to hit the streets. That is slowly beginning to happen now.

But your points are well taken.

[Ravenback47]

03:49 PM on 03/21/2009

I would like to hear more talk about actual regulation of the financial industry. What led us to this point and how can we prevent it from happening again? Instead of the House rushing to pass a 90% tax on bonuses that won't hold up in the Supreme Court, why didn't they rush to prevent banks from involving themselves in insurance and investments, banning sub-prime loans, cap or ban adjustable rage mortgage rates, ban derivatives, reform securities rating methods, and so on. I don't like the bonuses at all, but this has become a witch hunt that doesn't solve anything in the end. People need to pressure their lawmakers to do more than just recover or ban the bonuses, because the fight for regulation of the financial industry is the battle that's coming. And are we prepared to take on the army of lobbyists just primed for a war?

[winningticket]

04:33 PM on 03/21/2009

Has it occured to you that these hooligans wouldn't have got the 165 million (now over 200 million) bonuses if they weren't given the multibillion dollar bailout? Whether you like it or not, the bailout and the bonuses go hand in hand. They are not mutually exclusive.

[Ravenback47]

04:47 PM on 03/21/2009

Wrong. The bonuses were approved back in April 2008, before the bailouts.

[aznurse]

02:18 PM on 03/21/2009

didn't a lot of investors make a lot of money off all these schemes, not only the workers for AIG?
What about them?

[sandyinohio]

03:25 PM on 03/22/2009

What about investors? Some of those may be done by my pension company or your 401K mutual fund? Come on! Are we supposed to know all that? How can anyone? Don't forget, almost 1/2 of taxpayers have some stocks by virtue of their pension plans. I don't think it's the investors who are at fault.

[psyopswatcher]

09:26 PM on 03/22/2009

The investors will probably be the first ones on the bus. (After losing their shirts to these bums)

[maxfax]

02:00 PM on 03/21/2009

Plain wrong, if you want to make a point go to the source the headquarters and their subs. Change the laws, get them where it hurts, their wallets. This is not Salem.

[sueinmn]

04:06 PM on 03/21/2009

Headguarters, they can hide in their corner offices! Home they have to feel the emotional feelings. Not sure what they feel but this brings it where they cannot hide.

[maxfax]

05:55 PM on 03/22/2009

So what? We're a civilized nation, these people perpetrated only what they were allowed to do through the lack of laws, and that would be through lobbyists and the Republicans. Take to the streets go after the business, but not the families of the guys who got the money.

[nicole473]

09:08 PM on 03/21/2009

Plain wrong is exactly right. Sickens me.