As goes AIG so goes the U.S. economy?

This seems to be what our government would have us believe -- do you buy into it?


http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/aig-shares-rally-20-after/story.aspx?guid={4FBC155E-0C2C-4863-A193-A4757C4D7D16}

and what's up[ with the AIG execs going to a posh resort on our dime? Not the one in California - this is the EXECS themselves in Arizona!!!

...with the money that AIG has gotten so far. And how come we're not getting invited to the parties that we pay for?

perhaps a little "Trickle UP" financial rescue is in order.

...I think we're actually better off without them.

AIG had substantial ties all around the world (though its been apparent on many of these threads that many Americans neither care about other nations- nor understand the significance of that to their own circumstances).

...the world and tie it in to the health of our economy please feel free, I'd love to read it.

Our own DrDebug has done some pretty extensive research on AIG and they sound like bad news to me:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=92675&mesg_id=96295

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=125&topic_id=92675&mesg_id=96295

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4169766&mesg_id=4170515

There's lot's more -- DrDebug's journal is a wealth of some very good research.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/DrDebug

Without getting into reinsurance and complicated derivative transactions here's a simple situation to consider.

Say you're a business and you have a polcy with AIG. Suddenly Poof" it's gone- you have no coverage. In many cases, you may not be able to get new coverage- at elast a substantial amount of time.

Poof! You're out of business. Now multiply that several magnitudes.

Regadless of the corrupt or simply stupid policy decisions activities that got us to this point, the fact remains, that's where we are- and you simply can't just let a company of this size and breadth collapse without a TON of systemic (foreseen and unforeseen) consequences. Often to largely innocent parties all over the world.

...to say a company like Archer Daniels Midland must be bailed out if they were to face bankruptcy, otherwise people might go hungry.

To suggest AIG is an essential part of the corporate food chain because nobody shuffles paper quite like they do simply does not persuade.

I don't think they'd be missed, and it sounds like a number of their execs belong in prison.

with less of an eye to malfeasance- and a closer look at day to day transactions, exposures and liabilites of businesses- or even individuals with auto insurance.

One doesn't have to "like" -indeed one can hate AIG and still realize why allowing them to collapse entirely was a very poor choice, with far ranging consequence both here and abroad.

Regulatory failures- and angles like "they should never have been allowed to get too big to fail" are obvious- and need to be responsibly addressed next year.

In the meantime there are other, more immediate problms to be dealt with.

...the services they do.

Other organizations would move in, perhaps slowly at first, to fill any supply of services void they would leave.

JDPriestly raised, what looks to be a valid point in post 11 -- please speak to it if you're of mind to.

and hopefully, responsibly regulations will be enacted and enforced to prevent one company like this put so many others as well as the gloabal financial system at risk of chaos and collapse.

aig - spook city.

I thought AIG was in trouble because it was insuring the sub-prime mortgage debt. If the government is covering the banks' losses on the sub-prime mortgages, then why is AIG having a problem? And if it isn't having a problem, why are we giving it money?

This does not make sense at all. Somebody's got some 'splainin' to do. I think we are being robbed. I've thought that all along, but now this. They are double-dipping.

Here's the picture that starts to make sense out of this whole mess to me:

:hi:

Ex-AIG CEO says government support will have to continue
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4AA5KD20081111

:hi:

If they're that important, why don't we just nationalize it and save some money?

...the equivalent of their total worth in stocks times ten? That's a bit of an eye opener.

It really does beg the question of nationalizing AIG if we really think they're so indispensable.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=aig

Back in September, they were worth about $32 billion. We lent them $40 billion at the time. I think that last year before the levy broke, they were worth about $120 billion all together.

Consumer represents 2/3 of the economy. But guess who these bailouts are going to.

And welcome to DU. :hi:

Goldmann Sachs. Just ask ex-ceo Paulson.

...ALL at our expense.

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