Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke ripped into the American International Group Inc, saying that nothing makes him angrier in the current financial crisis than the way the firm operated and the bailout that followed. Bernanke said that AIG operated a hedge fund on top of an insurance company, taking advantage of regulatory gaps, he said. The government has poured $163 billion into the firm. Bernanke said the government had no choice and had to rescue AIG. AIG's failure would have hammered the bank system and sent out "shockwaves" through the insurance system. Yeah, every (thing) is a "hedge"fund nowadays
On occasion CNBC has good comedy. This morning the former CEO of AIG was explaining his AIG lawsuit. On the basis of the current CEO assuring the public that they would have no CDS loses...he exercised his options at $50, and now the stock is $.45. And, he has lost over $2 billion because the CEO lied. Asked how he knew the CEO lied...because, he was the CEO and he as CEO would have known their CDS exposure.
I hope this guy is sarcastic, he can't be serious now. They (Bernanke, Paulson + Geithner) let Lehman blow up on Monday and unleash hell on credit marktes and then bail out AIG on Wednesday because of "possible shockwaves". Yea that makes sense
I would raid the corporate offices with the FBI and SEC "Someone or something somewhere got us into this financial mess. Now someone somewhere is going to get us out. Along the way I hope that heads roll, people are thrown in jail, and the Wall Street investment banks that created this mess are never allowed to exist in any way shape or form in the future. It's time to kick ass and take names. The first place I would start kicking would be the investment banks. I would raid the corporate offices with the FBI and SEC. I would sue CEO's, executives, and traders to reclaim the massive bonuses they received over the past eight years. I would take them out of their offices in handcuffs, and parade them in front of the entire world. The second place I would visit would be the headquarters and trading offices of head funds. Head funds are made up primarily of former Wall Street investment types who have over leveraged themselves to create turmoil in the financial markets. I would look for illegal short selling activity, and if found, I would close their operations immediately. These two groups of manipulators have done the bulk of the damage to the equity markets. Some are obviously honest and legitimate, but the rest are no better than the criminals that run organized crime. In many cases they have been above the law because the laws put in place to regulate you and I, and do not apply to them." http://www.johnmugarian.com/2008/11/
It took less than a day for the evidence to pour in that you cannot allow a financial company of that size to go under i.e. Reserve money market fund breaking the buck.