Allen-This is quickly morphing into a political crisis. I saw that article earlier today. AIG is definitely an interesting entity. Started as an OSS vessel in 1919 and morphed into the biggest insurance co in the world. Also it started in China and was very active in spying during WWII. Lots of secrets there.
Good write up here on the current fiasco:
Wait. Hold it. Who designed, and is ultimately responsible for, the AIG bail-out? That would be the president of the New York Fed, right? And who was in that seat at the time the bail-out was executed, back in September? That’s right, it was Tiny Tulip Tim Geithner, the same guy whose direct boss these days, one Barack Obama, said this morning he was “choking with anger” over the consequences of the bail-out terms his own Treasury Secretary drew up a mere 6 months ago. If you’re the president, you have something better to do than choke, sir. You need to act.
Larry Summers, the economic behind-the-curtain sorcerer, says he is “outraged” over the bonuses. Makes you wonder when Timmy will start venting his anger over his own bungled broken words? (By the way, I see many different figures for the AIG bonuses float by. I’ll stick with Rep. Elijah Cummings for now, who puts the total at $1 billion.)
Talking about Larry Summers, I don’t want to bore you with repetition, but he is the guy who, along with Robert Rubin and their Citi and JPMorgan golf cronies, deregulated US finance 10 years ago, without which none of the disastrous leverage, risk taking, out and down-right gambling and beyond comprehension screwed-up conflicts of banking interests that are the number one core of the present financial mess would have been possible. Want to know who worked closely with them then? yeah, Tiny Tim. He was Under Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs during Rubin and Summers’ stints as Treasury Secretaries, a true crown prince. Geithner is a shadow hand puppet and a docile servant who either badly bungled the AIG “rescue” or meant it to be what it is from the get-go. You choose. Either way, we’re back to the theatre of the absurd I’ve talked about many times.
Bennie Bernanke was the first Fed head to do a TV interview in 20 years yesterday. Why do you think he did? Can you spell spin doctor? Here’s a quote: “Lehman proved that you cannot let a large internationally active firm fail in the middle of a financial crisis,” Bernanke said.. Who was in charge of the Fed when Lehman was unceremoniously sunk? You’re 2 for 2, it was Bernanke.
