The financial meltdown in the United States has already wiped out more than $2 trillion from America's retirement accounts, and that's only been in the past 15 months. As the economy continues to worsen, slipping into a recession, many Americans are buckling down and bracing for hard times. However, the message seems not to have gotten to everyone.

The Dow lost another 3% today in trading as forecasts for the future remained grim. Over the past week the Down is down 10%, and down 30% from last year's peak. Top congressional budget analyst Peter Orszag said Tuesday that these figures translate into a $2 trillion loss from pension plans in the past 15 months.

Meanwhile, congressional investigators also revealed that less than a week after receiving an $85 billion federal bailout, a group of top American International Group executives went to an exclusive beach resort for a week, quickly blowing through $440,000.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif) said, "The federal bailout occurred on Sept. 16. Less than one week later, AIG held a week-long retreat for company executives at the exclusive St. Regis Resort in Monarch Beach, California."

Invoices from the trip showed that AIG's bill included $150,000 for banquets, $200,000 on room fees, $23,000 in spa charges, and $7,000 in greens fees.

Rep. Waxman said that the AIG executives were just as badly behaved as the Lehman Brothers CEO that he questioned Monday:

"In each case the companies and their executives grew rich by taking on excessive risk. In each case, the companies collapsed when these risks turned bad. And in each case, their executives are walking away with millions of dollars while taxpayers are stuck with billions of dollars in costs.

"The AIG CEOs are like the Lehman CEO in one other respect: in each case they refuse to accept any blame for what happened to their companies."