It's bad enough that AIG presented a completely false picture of its finances in its 2007 annual report, including a sign off from the world's biggest audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers that everything was above board.

So what then do we make of this News of the World report detailing how the firm spent big bucks for its executives to live it up a partridge shooting party on the day the US Government bailed out the institution.

The paper sent some undercover operatives to track them down and discovered there were:

• FOUR aristocratic-style shooting parties costing a whopping £25,000 ($US43,257) in total.


• A PRIVATE JET for two of them from Germany costing £10,000 ($US17,299).


• FLIGHTS to and from Madrid and a fleet of CHAUFFEUR DRIVEN cars at £5000 ($US8649)


• SUMPTUOUS feasts washed down with bottles of fine wines and liqueurs costing £5000 and giant picnic hampers to guzzle in between slaughtering birds.


• LUXURY rooms totaling £5000.

One executive told the undercover operatives: "The recession will go on until about 2011-but the shooting was great today and we are all relaxing fine."

In his radio address over the weekend, President Bush said the US economy would bounce back and praised the US as home to "the most talented, enterprising, and creative workers in the world."

"We're a country where all people have the freedom to realize their potential and chase their dreams." In the case of the AIG execs, that means chasing your dreams at the expense of others. It's only a matter of time before some of these talented, enterprising and creative types end up in court.