My wife, who knows more about corporate structure than the average joe, points out that the AIG executives who spent $440k at a lavish retreat shorty after the federal government granted AIG a $85b bailout were, in fact, executives of the profitable, non-bailout-requiring life insurance group, and were unrelated to the bailout-requiring investment insurance and bond-rating companies, except to the extent that both companies are held by the same holding company.

The nature of a holding company corporate structure is fairly strict. Money can’t be transferred around between them arbitrarily, so it’s very possible for one held company to be successful while another is completely bankrupt. I found a good analogy in the (cough) Reddit comments for the above article:

A family is going through some financial troubles because the dad gambled the money away and is getting welfare checks. However, the son who has been successful in his job is still going to Europe because he paid for it months before and to cancel it would incur penalty fees.

You’re blaming the family for going on vacation when they need money for their monthly expenses, when in reality, it’s only the son, and he paid for it using his own earnings, not the welfare check.

Of course the desire to act hysterical far outweighs any kind of informed analysis, as usual.