[sanjuro]

Let's see what comes of this:

February 23, 2009, 4:37 pm
A.I.G. to Seek More Government Aid

Update | 5:01 p.m. The American International Group, the battered insurance giant that is now effectively majority-owned by the federal government, is in talks to receive more government aid as it prepares to record another giant loss.

A.I.G. could take as much as a $60 billion hit when it reports earnings during the next week. It expects to disclose losses across a wide variety of holdings, from commercial real estate to credit default swaps, the private contracts that helped lead it to the brink last fall.

Among the plans being discussed include swapping some or all of the $40 billion in preferred shares held by the government into a form of capital A.I.G. can use to ward off collateral calls from its trading partners. The government has already lent A.I.G. $150 billion.

 

[manimal]

um...why can't we just let them go under and cut our losses?

 

[reflux]

um...why can't we just let them go under and cut our losses?

Quiet now, you unpatriotic, terrorist-lovin, freedom hater.

 

[manimal]

i suppose if this whole new-age economy wasn't built on everyone trying to buy stuff they can't afford we wouldn't be in this mess. I'm down with Tyler Durden, let's obliterate the credit bureus so we all go back to zero

 

[jimmydean]

I'm down with Tyler Durden, let's obliterate the credit bureus so we all go back to zero

Wait! I need to buy more crap first, THEN kill those bitches.

 

[jonKranked]

i suppose if this whole new-age economy wasn't built on everyone trying to buy stuff they can't afford we wouldn't be in this mess. I'm down with Tyler Durden, let's obliterate the credit bureus so we all go back to zero

That's what capitalism is based on, constand growth. And that's also why it's a problem. No economy can sustain continual, constant growth at the rates we had been seeing.

 

[ohio]

That's what capitalism is based on, constand growth. And that's also why it's a problem. No economy can sustain continual, constant growth at the rates we had been seeing.

solution?

 

[sanjuro]

Fewer risky business practices...

 

[jonKranked]

solution?

Don't got one. How 'bout you?

I say we just eat more bacon.

 

[moff_quigley]

Don't got one. How 'bout you?

I say we just eat more bacon.

Bacon = solution to the world's problems. I'm convinced that if we could get the Israelis and Palestinians to sit down to a plate of bacon.....:biggrin:

 

[$tinkle]

Fewer risky business practices...

i'd like to close up 10% of businesses, including anything found in a mall, especially the food court

 

[Secret Squirrel]

i'd like to close up 10% of businesses, including anything found in a mall, especially the food court

I don't care what anyone says, that sh*t is NOT chinese food. Period.

 

[jimmydean]

I don't care what anyone says, that sh*t is NOT chinese food. Period.

You mean Happy Panda isn't made from actual pandas? Damn them!

 

[Secret Squirrel]

You mean Happy Panda isn't made from actual pandas? Damn them!

Nope...it's like squirrel es cargot or something...

 

[$tinkle]

Nope...it's like squirrel es cargot or something...

that explains your inside knowledge of their secret sauce



:jizzle:

 

[X3pilot]

Bacon = solution to the world's problems. I'm convinced that if we could get the Israelis and Palestinians to sit down to a plate of bacon.....:biggrin:

But Jews don't eat....oh wait. I see what you did there...:biggrin:

 

[Defenestrated]

Too big to fail is too big to exist, have the government break AIG up into smaller businesses and then sell them back.

 

[skatetokil]

That's what capitalism is based on, constand growth. And that's also why it's a problem. No economy can sustain continual, constant growth at the rates we had been seeing.

Ok, a question for you.

Do you view capitalism negatively because it is characterized by cyclical shocks like the one we are experiencing or because growth is bad?

 

[jonKranked]

Ok, a question for you.

Do you view capitalism negatively because it is characterized by cyclical shocks like the one we are experiencing or because growth is bad?

Actually I don't view it negatively. It's just that there's an 800lb gorilla in the room that no one wants to talk about.

 

[dan-o]

Too big to fail is too big to exist

Same rules apply to unions?

 

[Defenestrated]

Elaborate.

 

[Cant Climb]

Too big to fail is too big to exist, have the government break AIG up into smaller businesses and then sell them back.

AIG has healthy business (Life Insurance)....didn't the Feds already seperate it from the bad side somehow..?...

 

[Secret Squirrel]

Elaborate.

Uh....Really?


Just for sh*ts n' giggles...

UAW?
Boing et al (Boeing for those not in-the-know)?
Coal miners?

Give it a go...

 

[sanjuro]

The federal government agreed Monday morning to provide an additional $30 billion in taxpayer money to the American International Group and loosen the terms of its huge loan to the insurer, even as the insurance giant reported a$61.7 billion loss, the biggest quarterly loss in history.

Apparently, AIG gets whatever they want...

 

[$tinkle]

just heard on npr this is their 4th, fourth, FOURTH bailout

 

[Cant Climb]

just heard on npr this is their 4th, fourth, FOURTH bailout

Here's a good article that talks about how we got here....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/28/business/28nocera.html?_r=2

 

[jimmydean]

They are cutting back, though.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/football/01/21/manchester.united.aig/index.html

 

[$tinkle]

i was just thinking about the figure of $60B

60,000 millionaires. a college football stadium full of millionaires. this is just one corporation. for the 4th time (albeit the biggest of the big corps, and the largest of the large bailouts).

i can barely get that in perspective, and we're supposed to be able to fathom 2 million million? i never thought i'd see the day where i'd be able - nay, prefer - to make an everyday application of scientific notation.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

i was just thinking about the figure of $60B

60,000 millionaires. a college football stadium full of millionaires. this is just one corporation. for the 4th time (albeit the biggest of the big corps, and the largest of the large bailouts).

i can barely get that in perspective, and we're supposed to be able to fathom 2 million million? i never thought i'd see the day where i'd be able - nay, prefer - to make an everyday application of scientific notation.

Good thing we don't have to talk about it in Zimbabwean dollar terms...

I'd wear off the print on my "0" 10-key faster than normal...

 

[ohio]

They are cutting back, though.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/SPORT/football/01/21/manchester.united.aig/index.html

Thanks ****ing God. 10s of millions is pocket change relative to the bailout, but what kind of benefit short of ego and dick waxing could AIG possibly ever hope to get from sponsoring a soccer team? In many senses this economic crisis is good thing if it helps us clean out nepotism, greed, and complete lack of perspective in the corporate boardrooms (not to mention normal households) of the world.

 

[Cant Climb]

The question i have:

Since this AIG mess is global and it plays a big part of the global economic downturn right now.....shouldn't other countrys be printing money for them too.....?.....it seems like we are bailing out the entire world.....

 

[jimmydean]

The question i have:

Since this AIG mess is global and it plays a big part of the global economic downturn right now.....shouldn't other countrys be printing money for them too.....?.....it seems like we are bailing out the entire world.....

Please tell me this isn't newz to you.

Next you will say Bush was trying to spread democracy to countries that don't want it.

 

[Cant Climb]

Please tell me this isn't newz to you.

Next you will say Bush was trying to spread democracy to countries that don't want it.

Yeah it's news to me......have had my head buried in the sand.

 

[valve bouncer]

The question i have:

Since this AIG mess is global and it plays a big part of the global economic downturn right now.....shouldn't other countrys be printing money for them too.....?.....it seems like we are bailing out the entire world.....

As far as I know the "A" in AIG stands for "American"....it's an American company so if it's going to be bailed out then it should be by the American government, just as Toyota is going cap in hand to the Japanese government, Opel to the German government and so on.
Don't worry other countries are doing their bit. Just because you don't know or notice, doesn't mean it's not happening.

 

[Cant Climb]

As far as I know the "A" in AIG stands for "American"....it's an American company so if it's going to be bailed out then it should be by the American government, just as Toyota is going cap in hand to the Japanese government, Opel to the German government and so on.
Don't worry other countries are doing their bit. Just because you don't know or notice, doesn't mean it's not happening.

There is also an I in AIG. Sure they have a big American presence but they have taken on alot of international moneys too....so it doesn't sound like a "purely" American problem.

I guess my original question is: What would constitute them being deemed a American company vs. International company...or both...?

 

[$tinkle]

far as i can tell, all int'l companies fly the flag of exactly one nation, which is usually (always?) the founding nation

 

[valve bouncer]

There is also an I in AIG. Sure they have a big American presence but they have taken on alot of international moneys too....so it doesn't sound like a "purely" American problem.

I guess my original question is: What would constitute them being deemed a American company vs. International company...or both...?

With a little googling I quickly found that, for example, the New Zealand arm of AIG is basically a seperate company from the American so I'd imagine that it'd be a similar situation elsewhere.
Oh and the example I gave above of Opel getting help from the German government, well apparently Opel is owned by GM. Sh*t eh?

 

[Cant Climb]

I wonder how much debt the American branch is on the hook for when it comes to foreign debt....like if they insured the debt of a european town or something.....so american taxpayers might end paying for their trash collection......

 

[sanjuro]

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/watching-the-aig-hearing-on-the-hill/?hp

Not enough whipping, for me.

 

[$tinkle]

why not adjust the funds by the amount of the bonus? isn't that similar to payday loans?

they can even get their nails done next door