Almost done reading the Vanity Fair article. Well written. This part bothered me the most:
“A.I.G. couldn’t afford to pay Goldman off in March 2008, but that was O.K. The U.S. Treasury, led by the former head of Goldman Sachs, Hank Paulson, agreed to make good on A.I.G.’s gambling debts. One hundred cents on the dollar.”
And this:
“Cassano resigned from A.I.G. F.P. early last year, but he didn’t simply leave. He continued to turn up at his desk and spend the day staring at his Bloomberg TV. The traders thought it strange; only later did they learn that A.I.G. was still paying him $1 million a month to consult.”
Consult? The guy he replaced, I could see them hiring him to consult, but Cassano?
Edit: Partway through the Atlantic. Also well-written. Sure does seem like Hank and Benny bribed/threatened BOA to buy Merrill.
“The backroom dealing and arm-twisting that kept the deal moving may have succeeded in saving Merrill from immediate collapse, but only at the expense of the health and stability of the nation’s largest bank—an institution far more important, systemically, than Merrill, and one that must now be propped up, indefinitely, no matter the cost.”
“Some observers are convinced that government officials crossed a line—“There’s no question there was coercion and bribery here,”
