Did AIG Confuse Me With Paris Hilton? More for the Yacht Class

"Sentimental Value Is Not Lost: A policyholder was on her boat at the marina when her diamond bracelet--a gift to commemorate the birth of her child--fell off her wrist and into the water. Rather than simply pay the claim, AIG Private Client Group ... hired a professional diver who recovered it."

Where to start? I don't have jewels, much less a yacht, and I don't think AIG would have hired a chaser to grab the little thug who stole the spare tire and a zip-lock bag of bead earrings from my car while i was buying bagels.

How did this diamonds-and-yachts ad come to my peeling stucco cottage's mailbox? How many thousands did they mail out? If I'm getting it, that means AIG is buying some seriously bloated national mailing lists, and you, the taxpayer, are at least indirectly footing the bill.

And Henry Paulson thinks that these companies don't need any more oversight.

em>Judy Dugan is the Research Director of the Consumer Watchdog , a nationally-recognized, California-based, non-profit consumer education and advocacy organization. She joined them in March 2006 and is a former Deputy Editorial Page Editor for the Los Angeles Times. She most recently served as Senior Editorial Writer at the Times and was the Editor of a Pulitzer Prize-winning series on California government in 2004. Since 1987 she has held editorial positions with the Times including Assistant Op-Ed Editor and Voices Editor.