Since the markets have been tanking and the taxpayers have been bailing, the Captains of Industry have begun developing a public relations problem. It keeps getting out that executives from failed companies aren’t destitute. It doesn’t matter that the money being discussed is a “drop in the bucket” or if the stories are somehow out of context. We The People just aren’t in the mood to hear any rationalizations. When we’re told that companies need $700 billion NOW NOW NOW and when our elected officials give it to them and when we watch our 401(k)s being decimated, we want to see hair shirts and remorse; not pedicures and manicures:

Less than a week after the federal government committed $85 billion to bail out AIG, executives of the giant AIG insurance company headed for a week-long retreat at a luxury resort and spa, the St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, California, Congressional investigators revealed today.
. . .
AIG documents obtained by Waxman’s investigators show the company paid more than $440,000 for the retreat, including nearly $200,000 for rooms, $150,000 for meals and $23,000 in spa charges.

At this point, I’d suggest that the luxuries the public will tolerate these folks enjoying might possibly extend to video games and cheap domestic beer. So, my advice to these guys is to fire up the XBox, crack open a Pabst, and stay the hell away from the public eye. Otherwise folks might add rope to the list when they’re out shopping for torches and pitchforks.