AIG, recipient of $182 billion in taxpayer dollars, is trying to squeeze money out of poor people in rural Kentucky via a local water utility. Prior to the insurance giant’s near collapse last year, which prompted Washington to step in with a handsome bailout, AIG purchased Utilities Inc., a holding company that controls small water utilities across 17 states, including Water Services of Kentucky. The small utility provides water to the impoverished towns of Middlesboro and Clinton, home to a combined population of 12,000. The average income in Middlesboro is a little more than $13,000 a year, and many residents don’t even have that, thanks to 30% unemployment. But the harsh economic times didn’t dissuade the AIG-owned utility from trying to hike water rates 51%. After public pressure, they settled for a 29% increase.