Aig
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Will they survive? I ahave my doubts.
It is looking very unlikely that AIG will survive this. With the Fed asking GS and JPM for $75Billion, it seems too little too late.
GS, looks to be in a decent position, and hopefully it is. So does JPM. But at some point, these guys have to make sure they save their own asses. Eventually they can not continue to be putting up good money to save bad assets. It's the same thing as us trying to catch a falling knife. If these bad assets are still unraveling, then does BAC really know what they're getting? With the lack of a deal tonight, and the Fed saying they won't bailout AIG, AIG might really go under. If you didn't like today, I have a feeling we aren't going to like the next couple of days with AIG and to a lesser degree WAMU. As we all know, AIG has now been downgraded...without a deal, they are done. Too many people saying, "They are too big to fail" or "They are too big not to save". This could really happen.We’ll see tomorrow. Forbes had this piece: http://www.forbes.com/markets/2008/09/13/aig-insurer-closer-markets-equity-cx_ra_0912markets34.html
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not defending them (I rolled out 9 people today from the fixed accounts, and the plan is to get another 9-10 tomorrow), but it does look like they could consolidate the company without having to bankrupt the financial subsidiaries.
I think it’s time we all start praying AIG gets some sort of help from the Fed. There has been so much discussed about their insurance business, deritives, etc. that if they actually go under and no one comes to their aid, Monday’s 500 point loss would seem insignificant.
One glimmer of hope is that since AIG insured many of European bank's investments, they might be part of the solution. Time is running out.As long as we allow the government to bail out these bastards, this is going to continue. As much as I hate government regulation, I think the banks deserve to feel the pain they have caused. And I am pissed that this is no friggin different than the S&L crisis of the early 90's except the numbers are exponentially higher.
Someday (my perfect world) we will treat corporations like individuals. And when we do actually make them accountable (hello Lehman, Bear, etc) they'll have to change their business practices to survive. I would love to believe that we are closer to the bottom, but I am afraid I am putting too much credibility in the banking sector.[quote=footsoldier]
As long as we allow the government to bail out these bastards, this is going to continue. As much as I hate government regulation, I think the banks deserve to feel the pain they have caused. And I am pissed that this is no friggin different than the S&L crisis of the early 90's except the numbers are exponentially higher.
Someday (my perfect world) we will treat corporations like individuals. And when we do actually make them accountable (hello Lehman, Bear, etc) they'll have to change their business practices to survive. I would love to believe that we are closer to the bottom, but I am afraid I am putting too much credibility in the banking sector.[/quote] We should all think of this moment the next time some self righteous rich person condemns disaffected people on welfare. Not that I am not for individual responsibility, but the image of a welfare recipient should be changed from a poor minority to a fat, overpaid person in a three piece suit. We have gone from trickle down economics to trickle down welfare . Someone please remind me why CEOs are paid so much more than the average worker.As much as I hate AIG, and AIG Valic, and AIG etc… I couldn’t have been happier when I heard the news. A bankruptcy would have really fracked this whole thing up.
From the NY Times:
"…if A.I.G. had collapsed — and been unable to pay all of its insurance
claims — institutional investors around the world would have been
instantly forced to reappraise the value of billions of dollars in debt
securities, which in turn would have reduced their own capital and the
value of their own debt.
“It would have been a chain reaction,” said Uwe Reinhardt, a professor of economics at Princeton University. “The spillover effects could have been incredible.”"