bsharvy

The Nationalization of AIG

It's probably a meaningless stake, since all those profitable assets have to be sold to pay the debt. The main thing is get the $85 billion back. If there's a profitable company left at the end, that's gravy.

The Nationalization of AIG

" I think the government is doing pretty good to pick and choose its spots to intervene. Yeah, we should criticize the lawlessness that got us in an overleveraged, derivative driven state, but now that we're here, what else can the government do? "

What else the government can do is: Be fair. Tell bond/stock holders of Lehman that the government should pick & choose who to screw and who to rescue. Tell the shareholders of smaller mortgage insurers that its OK for the government to rescue the bigger, richer corproations, but the little guys can eat it.

BTW, corporate welfare isn't socialism.

Federal Reserve Buys AIG

Bernanke wasn't directly involved; this is a Paulson lie.

Lehman's Collapse: Broader Economic Damage Unlikely

Good article. But Exxon and Microsoft selling stuff doesn't mean that the balance sheets of financial firms are irrelevant.

AIG: The Mark-to-Lehman Market

Lehman has good assets it can sell too. That's not the problem. The problem is crap assets + high leverage. How does AIG do on that score?