wakeup call

Did Geithner Bail Out Goldman Sachs?

Interesting series of comments. Keep in mind that had AIG filed for bankruptcy immediately Goldman would have had to come up with $20 billion immediately. An AIG bailout gave Goldman the opportunity to (1) hedge its AIG exposure after the fact and (2) request to be treated as a commercial bank and have the request approved in a matter of hours. This last point would allow Goldman to dip into any bailout pool for commercial banks. By the nature of the bailout for AIG with respect to the government ownership the government had no concern about shareholder value. Its almost as if once Goldman was taken care of what happend to AIG became immaterial.