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AIG sparks "Lifestyles of the Rich & Infamous" tour

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A protestors carries a sign during a rally in the financial district in San Francisco, March 19, 2009. REUTERS/Robert Galbraith

A protestors carries a sign during a rally in the financial district in San Francisco, March 19, 2009.

Credit: Reuters/Robert Galbraith

NEW YORK | Fri Mar 20, 2009 5:35pm EDT

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A small political party angry at bonuses paid to staff of bailed out insurance giant American International Group is organizing a bus tour to the Connecticut homes of several AIG executives.

"We're all mad at AIG," the Connecticut Working Families Party, a small liberal party, said on its Web site, inviting people to sign up for its "Lifestyles of the Rich and Infamous" bus tour and a rally at the company's Wilton, Connecticut, headquarters, on Saturday.

"Their executives bear a large share of the responsibility for bringing the economy to its knees, and now the same folks are getting hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses -- at our expense," the website said.

Hefty bonuses paid to AIG executives after a $180 billion government bailout have sparked outrage. The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a bill taxing such payments at a 90 percent rate, but the Senate has yet to act.

AIG employees have expressed concern about the safety of workers who were paid a total of $165 million in bonuses. Some AIG executives have received death threats.

AIG did not have any immediate comment.

A spokesman for the Connecticut Working Families Party declined to say which AIG executives would be visited on the tour. He said the bus would hold about 50 people.

(Reporting by Edith Honan; Editing by Claudia Parsons)

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