Were you convinced that the antics surrounding American International Group (AIG) couldn't get any worse? After all, there was that big $85 billion bailout... which somehow almost doubled within a matter of weeks. Then there were the stories of spa trips and luxury resorts. Taxpayers are rightfully dismayed at the thought of bailing out a company with their money, only to see funds squandered.

(Yes, I understand that the trips were by people in a subsidiary that is a different one than the one that needed to be bailed out... But it's all AIG and when one part of the company spends money, the whole company is spending money.)

But there's another side to the AIG story that hasn't been talked about as much. AIG employees are being harassed and threatened by angry consumers. Stock market celebrity Jim Cramer of Mad Money television fame told his viewers to harass AIG employees in public. Seriously? Most of the employees of AIG aren't to blame for the company's mess. Upper management is. The employees don't deserve to be harassed just for doing their jobs or being a part of a sketchy company.

Many people are contacting WalletPop.com regarding harassing calls from creditors trying to collect debt payments. Can these calls be stopped and what happens if you do successfully stop the calls? There is a law that protects you from harassment called the "Fair Debt Collection Practices Act."

Let's take a look at your protections and what steps you can take to stop the harassment.

All personal, family and household debts are covered by this act. These debts can include money owed for the purchase of a car, for medical care and any charge accounts. When a creditor wants to collect a debt from you they have the right to contact you in person, by mail, by telephone, by telegram, or by fax, but they can only make these contacts between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. A debt collector may not contact you at work if you tell the collector that your employer disapproves of such contacts. Once the debt collector has talked with you once during the day they cannot contact you any more that day or it's considered harassment. They must actually talk with you. If you let the phone ring and don't take the call they can continue to call the number.

You can stop the calls by contacting the collector in writing and telling the collector to stop. Once the collector receives your letter, he or she may not contact you again except to say there will be no further contact or to notify you that he or she plans to take some specific action, such as file a lawsuit. Collectors can't make threats unless they plan to carry them out. If a collector does take you to court and win, the collector may be able to garnish your wages or seize assets, so be sure you want to risk that lawsuit by telling them to stop.

Beijing took some heat in the press for sweeping its streets of the homeless before the Olympic circus came to town, but China's government isn't the only one trying to banish the disadvantaged from places where visitors tread.

According to the main Atlanta newspaper, the Journal-Constitution, cops have been trawling the streets this month dressed as tourists, hoping to catch panhandlers in the act of rustling up money. As of last week, 44 beggars have been arrested.

One of the police commanders in town explains that the frequency and intimidating style of local begging has gotten so bad that it's annoying tourists and scaring them away. And because most tourists who feel accosted by beggars don't return to town to testify, the city had to resort to using officers posing as tourists so that there would be someone around to tell it to the judge. The decoys are even rigged with hidden cameras.

Atlanta, which passed an ordinance three years ago that banned verbal panhandling in a restricted downtown area near the Georgia Aquarium, is far from the only city to place limits on begging. In the Peachtree City, beggars can usually get by silently holding a sign that asks for cash. But ask "aggressively" -- the interpretation, like the one for obscenity, is fluid -- and it's a crime.