RTFA: http://hotair.com/archives/2008/11/11/aig-responds…

It is essential for AIG to conduct seminars of this kind to keep independent financial planners abreast of investment products and services including those offered by AIG. The financial planners are responsible for generating almost $200 million in revenue this year for AIG as of September 30th.

On October 10, I issued a directive to all AIG employees and subsidiaries to reduce expenses and conserve cash, including cancelling all nonessential conferences or meetings, unnecessary travel and excessive overhead. Since then, we have canceled more than 160 events. We conducted a top-to-bottom review of all expenses of the Phoenix meeting in advance and found that it was consistent with my October 10th directive. This conference was approved because it provides the kind of communication we must conduct with the people who sell our products if we are to be successful and repay the U.S. taxpayer.”

Before I offer my rebuttal, let me first state that the AIG Media Relations people and the various employees who e-mailed me were very polite and friendly. They all said they understand the scrutiny under which AIG must now operate, but felt that this story unfairly characterized the event, and to some extent, they’re right. After all, sitting at poolside doesn’t cost any more money than already spent, and neither does coffee-drinking, both of which got a strange level of focus in the article.

However, I think the rebuttals miss the point. AIG essentially cast itself as bankrupt and in need of receivership by American taxpayers. If they want to hold conferences – and I agree that sales organizations have to do so – then they can hold them at corporate headquarters and not resort hotels. When times got lean for corporations in which I worked, all of which had major sales organizations within them, they didn’t travel to resorts but had people come back to HQ to get their training. Had they gone into Chapter 11, I doubt that any judge would have approved the outlay in any case, and this is a similar position.

YES – Morrissey gets this one right on the nose. Is it necessary for AIG to use luxury resort escapes for this sort of thing?

This is almost as absurd as celebrity divorces where one party claims they have gotten used to a certain lifestyle, so the other side needs to throw in some premium.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but:

If you’re bankrupt, NO RESORT VACATIONS!!! Period.