Coming to a media outlet near you; "AIG, the Political Strategy of 2010!" Starts Monday!

[FrenchieCat]

AIG is an International insurance company.
They sell insurance; auto, life, mortgage, retirement, etc...

It was the 18th largest company in the world.

They have HQ locations in New York, London, Paris, and Hong Kong.

AIG suffered from a liquidity crisis after its credit ratings were downgraded below "AA" levels shortly after September 15.

They knew that they had problems earlier on, as the mortgage industry was taking a nose dive throughout 2008, and AIG was paying off claims to banks on mortgage insurance resulting from the Swaps madness at a much faster clip than anytime prior. This is why they brought in their new CEO in June of 2008; to try and get a handle on things before the shit hit the fan.

The Federal Reserve Bank on September 16, 2008, created an $85 billion credit facility to enable the company to meet collateral and other cash obligations, at the cost to AIG of the issuance of a stock warrant to the Federal Reserve Bank for 79.9% of the equity of AIG.

In November 2008 the U.S. government revised its loan package to the company, increasing the total amount to $152 billion.

So far the U.S. government has given the company over $170 billion.

AIG is attempting to sell assets to repay the loans, but unlike a bank that might have assets such as foreclosed homes and other tangible assets, an insurance Company doesn't really have much in the way of tangible, other than insurance contracts. Hence this is why they are selling their headquarters in New York, etc...

So AIG is not a bank.

I predict that the bonus outrage that we have witnessed is just the start of this AIG business in the news, from what I can gather. The media is smelling a good "scandal", and AIG is the designated vehicle (I am using that term for a specific reason).

The fact that AIG is an International Company is why they paid off large Banks in foreign countries. So the outrage from the media about this fact was quite faux, since any reporter with any knowledge wouldn't have been surprised that an international company might have to pay claims in other countries.

The Obama Administration changed the rules when they started doing their bail out, in where certain information had to be revealed. That is why we found out about the foreign payouts, the bonuses, etc...although most of this wasn't ever a real mystery (just the details, cause that's how Bush set it up; to be vague). Of course the media will not explain any of this, just like they knew that reporting the foreign claims. Americans would automatically recoil at the mention of Foreign anything. They used it as kind of a dog whistle!

Currently, The Treasury Dept is supervising a winding down of AIG, from what I understand.
Something that takes time, as buyers have to be found to buy up the existing insurance contracts.
Remember, this was the 18th largest business IN THE WORLD!

Notice that when AIG was on the brink of failure back in September,
the media had no question; not a one. Nada.
Now that AIG is sure NOT to fail,
the media is all of the sudden becoming real cracker jack reporters.

But what the media is really trying to do is find a cause of scandal of any sorts with AIG,
in order to have a story to report on so that Americans can become visceral about any bail-out, spending, budget, etc...thereby tying Obama's hands in reference to anymore bailouts of anything.
That will slow down the recovery...which is fine with some people like the GOP and the Corporate world.

The real tragedy, as the President stated on Leno, is that all of this stuff that AIG did was legal.
The SEC and the Bush WH made sure that there would be no oversight, no watchdog, no officials to inquire about the "what if this happens" of AIG. They had 8 long years to do it.

What the Obama Administration is trying to do is get back to basic,
without creating a panic, and limit all financial institutions risk taking,
restrict what instruments each type of institution will be allowed,
and are putting together some real stringent regulations
that they plan on enforcing.

As for the Corporate Media and the GOP,
they are trying to make us believe that there are scandals to unearth at AIG.
Because you see, the media would love nothing better than to keep us busy
for the next 2 years, till the 2010 election, at being nice and "outraged".

Understand that most of the Republicans voted against both
Bail out bills, as well as the Stimulus.

The GOP, with a little help from their media friends,
are hoping to campaign on the Bail out VOTE that brought you AIG.
Most Democrats won't be able to do that,
since most voted for all of those bills.

without AIG to distract us,
Obama's economic plan works (although he cannot ask for any bailout,
which is why he put it in his budget instead--so that makes things more difficult),

And as reported, the stimulus is due to kick in big time by 2010.

Without AIG, the Republicans have no real galvanizing issue to run on.

The Corporate world needs the Republicans to win in November of 2010.....
because that's the year the Tax Cuts Expire, on December 31, 2010.

But gains by the GOP in November means extending the tax cuts in December.

So it really is simple,
because like everything else,
It's all about politics.