And no, I am not live-blogging the President's address to Congress.
But I wanted to note quickly that Yves Smith over at Naked Capitalism has a great post up on exactly what is wrong with the AIG bailout. Here is a taste:
What has been appalling about AIG is that Uncle Sam initially imposed a suitably punitive deal but then for reasons that remain a mystery, relented . Since the federal government is NOT a regulator of AIG, there was no reason to expect the authorities to step in, save Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson's attentiveness to the needs of the financial sector generally. AIG has globe-spanning operations, and there is no good reason why the US public should be stuck with the consequences of their lousy risk management decisions. But not only did AIG get considerably more in loans in version 2.0 of its deal with the US government, but the terms on its initial loans were improved considerably.Go read the whole thing.
And just to be clear, even though the blog is called Naked Capitalism, it is totally safe for work. Unless of course you work at AIG corporate headquarters. (But not at one of its still well regarded subsidiaries!)
1 comment:
As Smith said, it should be nationalized instead of continuing to be fed (as we are being bled)bail-out money. We are going to be gone for four days to Silver City N.M. to tend mules, dogs and cats for our friend there, so will have to catch up on your blogs when we get back. Maybe we can find some interesting rocks for the boys to tumble. Talk to you later.
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