Randy Miller

Geithner to Blame for Outrageous Goldman Bonuses

I cannot say it enough times. GS profited greatly from the AIG bailout, in that they did not take a loss on their AIG exposures. And if somebody says to you, "but GS had their AIG exposure hedged", turn to them and say "would GS have gotten 100 cents on the dollar if AIG had defaulted, because if you believe they would have, you are a fool or a liar."

The taxpayer paid GS 100 cents on the dollar on their AIG exposure, an amount they would not have gotten if AIG had gone under. Why do I say that? Because whoever GS's counterparties were with the AIG hedge, those same entities were probably also counterparties to everybody else who was exposed to AIG. There was no combination of counterparties who could come up with the $85 billion the government paid to AIG. Therefore GS, and a lot of other Big Financials, would have gotten pennies on the dollar.

And why is AIG stock in the forties?

The CFTC Is Needlessly Breaking Good Products

An investor plants seed money with hopes that an organism will grow, and he will harvest the fruits of that organism. I am not sure your "investors" are true investors in that sense, or speculators. Some speculators in agricultural commodites have value, they give the market needed liquidity. But it appears the further the speculator gets from actually holding the physical commodity, the closer he is to being a gambler.