OT - AIG Execs At Spa

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in
message m...


Granby wrote:
In our case we were doing things, home repair, painting and such
that got the attention of union type people. Several older people
needed houses painted and, for an exchange of farm products, it was
done but, someone knocked on the door of the man who was managing
it and he was told that it could not be allowed.

So much for the concept of simply being "good neighbors"!

Sorry but when it reaches the level of needing someone to manage it,
its no longer just good neighbors'.

Jo

On Fri, 10 Oct 2008 18:51:33 -0700, "Jofirey"
wrote:


"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
It seems that one week after receiving $85 *BILLION* dollars of
bail-out money from our tax dollars, the senior executives at AIG
took a week-long company-paid vacation at an exclusive resort in CA
to the tune of half a million bucks!


It was talked about on Oprah today. Apparently it was 70 employees
and they ran up a bill of $400,000 for a week long retreat with $500 a
night rooms. Tried to claim it was 'different money' than the bail
out money they received.

Even Oprah who knows how to spend money was pretty sarcastic about how
a good herbal wrap sure solves the worlds problems.

Jo

It is different money.

AIG is a conglomerate of insurance companies in the property, casualty
and life insurance businesses. The company that got into trouble was
a bond insurer. A default by the bond insurer would have brought the
issue of bonds to a grinding halt and you would have had even more
banks fail. By law the premiums for one line of insurance may not be
used to pay losses or operating expenses for another line of
insurance. The boys still wanted their reward for their part of the
business that did well, although it would have been more politic to
lay low for a while. This is too much to explain in a 30 second news
segment.

A lot of what you hear on television is just plain silly, like the
statement that GM didn't sell cars in Japan because they didn't make
cars with the driver's side on the right. What the heck did those
reporters think GM has been selling in the UK all these years. Another
fact that astounds reporters is that so much medical care is done in
the last year of life. I guess they haven't discovered that sad fact
of the human condition: we sicken before we die.

Bud

Jofirey wrote:
"CatNipped" wrote in message
...
It seems that one week after receiving $85 *BILLION* dollars of
bail-out money from our tax dollars, the senior executives at AIG
took a week-long company-paid vacation at an exclusive resort in CA
to the tune of half a million bucks!


It was talked about on Oprah today. Apparently it was 70 employees
and they ran up a bill of $400,000 for a week long retreat with $500 a
night rooms. Tried to claim it was 'different money' than the bail
out money they received.

Even Oprah who knows how to spend money was pretty sarcastic about how
a good herbal wrap sure solves the worlds problems.

Jo


"Different money" or not, if they could afford to spend that much for
having fun, why did they need the bailout? (Show of hands - those of us
here who can afford $500 a night for hotel rooms at a posh spa when we
go on vacation!)

Jofirey wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in
message m...

Granby wrote:
In our case we were doing things, home repair, painting and such
that got the attention of union type people. Several older people
needed houses painted and, for an exchange of farm products, it was
done but, someone knocked on the door of the man who was managing
it and he was told that it could not be allowed.
So much for the concept of simply being "good neighbors"!

Sorry but when it reaches the level of needing someone to manage it,
its no longer just good neighbors'.

Jo

I assumed "manage" was just another word for "coordinate" - with several
different neighbors involved, that didn't strike me as being
particularly odd. (Wonder what modern-day taxing authorities would make
of an old-fashioned "barn raising"?)

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in
message m...


Jofirey wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in
message m...

Granby wrote:
In our case we were doing things, home repair, painting and such
that got the attention of union type people. Several older
people needed houses painted and, for an exchange of farm
products, it was done but, someone knocked on the door of the man
who was managing it and he was told that it could not be allowed.
So much for the concept of simply being "good neighbors"!

Sorry but when it reaches the level of needing someone to manage
it, its no longer just good neighbors'.

Jo

I assumed "manage" was just another word for "coordinate" - with
several different neighbors involved, that didn't strike me as being
particularly odd. (Wonder what modern-day taxing authorities would
make of an old-fashioned "barn raising"?)

Depends of whether or not anyone owes anyone anything else once the
barn is raised.

Note, they take a very dim view of landlords that have tenants improve
the property in lieu of rent payments. Of course they are very
unlikely to find out about it, unless they are doing an audit and the
landlord (my client at the time) won't shut up about it because she is
so sure its such a lovely thing to be able to do. A tax preparer
really hates to hear about all this mid audit.

Jo

Yes, manage just meant keeping track of who was where and doing what. No
big deal, my husband was the one doing it.

The barn raising would alert the builders union, the electrical union (if
you had to have electricity for milking cows or such) and the plumbers
union if you had running water. I understand these people need jobs but,
the result of stopping the Barter was, that none of these things got done.

We quietly caulked windows for those who couldn't and when a family decided
to insulate and put siding on their house, we all showed up to help.

A man had to sell his two horses as he could no longer trade work for the
hay and so on and such......
"Jofirey" wrote in message
news

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
m...


Jofirey wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
m...

Granby wrote:
In our case we were doing things, home repair, painting and such that
got the attention of union type people. Several older people needed
houses painted and, for an exchange of farm products, it was done but,
someone knocked on the door of the man who was managing it and he was
told that it could not be allowed.
So much for the concept of simply being "good neighbors"!

Sorry but when it reaches the level of needing someone to manage it, its
no longer just good neighbors'.

Jo

I assumed "manage" was just another word for "coordinate" - with several
different neighbors involved, that didn't strike me as being particularly
odd. (Wonder what modern-day taxing authorities would make of an
old-fashioned "barn raising"?)

Depends of whether or not anyone owes anyone anything else once the barn
is raised.

Note, they take a very dim view of landlords that have tenants improve the
property in lieu of rent payments. Of course they are very unlikely to
find out about it, unless they are doing an audit and the landlord (my
client at the time) won't shut up about it because she is so sure its such
a lovely thing to be able to do. A tax preparer really hates to hear
about all this mid audit.

Jo

On Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:27:01 -0700, Jofirey wrote:

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
m...


Jofirey wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in
message m...

Granby wrote:
In our case we were doing things, home repair, painting and such
that got the attention of union type people. Several older people
needed houses painted and, for an exchange of farm products, it was
done but, someone knocked on the door of the man who was managing it
and he was told that it could not be allowed.
So much for the concept of simply being "good neighbors"!

Sorry but when it reaches the level of needing someone to manage it,
its no longer just good neighbors'.

Jo

I assumed "manage" was just another word for "coordinate" - with
several different neighbors involved, that didn't strike me as being
particularly odd. (Wonder what modern-day taxing authorities would
make of an old-fashioned "barn raising"?)

Depends of whether or not anyone owes anyone anything else once the barn
is raised.

Note, they take a very dim view of landlords that have tenants improve
the property in lieu of rent payments. Of course they are very unlikely
to find out about it, unless they are doing an audit and the landlord
(my client at the time) won't shut up about it because she is so sure
its such a lovely thing to be able to do. A tax preparer really hates
to hear about all this mid audit.

Jo

My father lived in a rented house for the last 25 years of his life. He
had such a "basic maintenance in exchange for reduced rent" arrangement
with the succession of landlords (first one large corporation, then
another large corporation, and finally the city park board, who ended up
as the landowner for a large tract of land including his house). I
suspect the main issue with the tax auditors is whether or not the
payment-in-kind is declared as income by the landowner.

--
John F. Eldredge --
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

I don't know about all that tax stuff but for example, the man who painted
their house got so many bales of hay they harvested for doing the job.
Nothing we ever did was counted as income or outgo. We were helping each
other.

With the way things are now, people may have to return to some of this in
order to survive.
"John F. Eldredge" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 11 Oct 2008 15:27:01 -0700, Jofirey wrote:

"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in message
m...


Jofirey wrote:
"EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)" wrote in
message m...

Granby wrote:
In our case we were doing things, home repair, painting and such
that got the attention of union type people. Several older people
needed houses painted and, for an exchange of farm products, it was
done but, someone knocked on the door of the man who was managing it
and he was told that it could not be allowed.
So much for the concept of simply being "good neighbors"!

Sorry but when it reaches the level of needing someone to manage it,
its no longer just good neighbors'.

Jo

I assumed "manage" was just another word for "coordinate" - with
several different neighbors involved, that didn't strike me as being
particularly odd. (Wonder what modern-day taxing authorities would
make of an old-fashioned "barn raising"?)

Depends of whether or not anyone owes anyone anything else once the barn
is raised.

Note, they take a very dim view of landlords that have tenants improve
the property in lieu of rent payments. Of course they are very unlikely
to find out about it, unless they are doing an audit and the landlord
(my client at the time) won't shut up about it because she is so sure
its such a lovely thing to be able to do. A tax preparer really hates
to hear about all this mid audit.

Jo

My father lived in a rented house for the last 25 years of his life. He
had such a "basic maintenance in exchange for reduced rent" arrangement
with the succession of landlords (first one large corporation, then
another large corporation, and finally the city park board, who ended up
as the landowner for a large tract of land including his house). I
suspect the main issue with the tax auditors is whether or not the
payment-in-kind is declared as income by the landowner.

--
John F. Eldredge --
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria