Owen

All That's Wrong with the AIG Bailout

Mr. Hornblass,

When has the government taken control of Lehman Brothers? That's news to me, as it must be to most readers.

The $85 Billion Check

John Jansen doesn't have a clue about the workings of the Treasury market. Each and every month, over $100 billion of treasuries are sold to the public. A $85B 'check' will barely register on the Fed's balance sheet.

But you, Felix, are correct--there is no $85B payment. Even if the funds are offered to AIG at below market rates, they still have an impressive yield, and in addition, Uncle Sam is getting 80% of a company that under normal conditions is worth close to $200 billion. A brilliant move by the Fed, and one that will end generating cash for the taxpayer, rather than costing us money.

AIG: The Cramer Conspiracy Theory

I can't badmouth Cramer, he made a lot of money for me. To be exact, I made a lot of money doing the opposite of what he recommended. When he told investors to buy CKR because Paris Hilton's ad for Carl's Jr. was a sure-fire winner, I sold it short and made money. When he pounded the table in 2005 about SHLD being the best investment around, I dumped it, and when he sold his shares in NLY for $13, I bought them and sold a year later for a 35% gain (including dividends).

Perhaps that $350 (reduced from $400!) a year newsletter is worth the money, although you'd still need to carefully sort out the truly horrible ideas from the merely silly ones.