Wouldn’t it be nice if the US Government were there to bail out each and every one of us whenever we’ve made poor financial decisions or mismanged our businesses?

While the average American family may be carrying $10K in credit card debt due to staggering interest rates offered by credit card companies, there is no relief in sight for them. There are also uncountable Americans who have carried auto insurance, homeowners insurance and health insurance for their entire adult lives without a single claim ever made. I’m one.

I’ve been paying outrageous auto insurance rates for the last 20 years without a single incedent, a single claim filed, not even a parking ticket, yet my rates continue to rise year to year, partly attributed to other drivers negligence. It’s the same with my homeowners insurance and my health insurance. God forbid I ever need to use either but still, the homeowners insurance on my home in Florida tripled from appx. $2000 per year in 2003 to over $6000 per year in 2008. With those costs on the rise, it’s ludicrous to me that AIG is having difficulties keeping their head above water.

According to an MSNBC article, the US government has agreed to a bail out of insurer AIG in the amount of $80 billion. Yes, that’s billion, not million…

In a bid to save financial markets and economy from further turmoil, the U.S. government agreed Tuesday to provide an $85 billion emergency loan to rescue the huge insurer AIG. The Federal Reserve said in a statement it determined that a disorderly failure of AIG could hurt the already delicate financial markets and the economy. It also could “lead to substantially higher borrowing costs, reduced household wealth and materially weaker economic performance,” the Fed said. …. The Fed said in return for the loan, the government will receive a 79.9 percent equity stake in AIG.

So what this means is that once again, taxpayers are going to bear the brunt of a loan made to a mis-run corporation. While the business world can be unforgiving to the average business, companies like AIG have a fairy godmother to sprinkle pixie dust on their poor business decisions and make it all go away at the expense of taxpayers.

My question is, “Where were government regulators when AIG was getting this large” and why wasn’t action taken by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners? How does a company such as AIG get so far in debt without notice of AIG’s key executives? While Chairman/CEO, Mr. Robert B. Willumstad has an undisclosed stake in AIG, other key executives account for appx. $20 million in base pay alone before any performance incentives and bonuses. Here’s the to eschelon at AIG and what they are earning while allowing the taxpayer to foot their salaries and incentives:

It just boggles my mind that four men earning over $20 million between them, one at the top with an undisclosed amount, could mismanage a business like AIG and end up crying for a government bailout. Anybody else would be fired, terminated without any severance pay if they fouled up as badly as these “key executives” at AIG did. Granted, the lot of them will probably be on their way out due to the AIG bailout but chances are they will each walk away with millions of dollars in their pockets while the average taxpayer will feel the pinch.