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| AIG Reveals $10 Billion Loss Mega Loan Won't Cover |
| 2008-12-10 |
| Something AIG neglected to tell anyone before going to the well. From TFA: American International Group Inc. owes Wall Street's biggest firms about $10 billion for speculative trades that have soured, according to people familiar with the matter, underscoring the challenges the insurer faces as it seeks to recover under a U.S. government rescue plan. The details of the trades go beyond what AIG has explained to investors about the nature of its risk-taking operations, which led to the firm's near-collapse in September. In the past, AIG has said that its trades involved helping financial institutions and counterparties insure their securities holdings. Apparently, the terms of the $150 billion mega loan won't cover these losses, so begins a new episode in this Greek tragedy in which a patient recovering from a massive gunshot wound gets a deadly infection from a shaving cut. The article also says that these losses stem from AIG essentially acting like a brokerage house instead of an insurer. The issue with AIG are credit default obligations ( CDO ) it bought from Goldman Sachs Abacus program. But not to worry. The government is in charge. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #13 California may be bankrupt in a few months, JosephM. What's going on in Guam? |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2008-12-10 22:56 |
| #12 Compare wid REDDIT > MISES Blog Article [long but good]> GENERAL MOTORS [GM] SOLD 9.37MILYUHN CARS IN 2007 WORLDWIDE BUT LOST US$38.7BILYUHN, whereas TOYOTA SOLD 9.37MILYUHN CARS IN 2007 WORLDWIDE AND MADE US$17.1BILYUHN IN PROFIT. USA's = Detroit's "BIG 3" are LOSING approxi US$5.0BILYUHN EVERY MONTH [30 days]. Also, BAILOUT BLOWOUT: US "BIG 3" AUTOMAKERS NEED MANY BILYUUHNS MORE THAN REQUESTED! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-12-10 21:50 |
| #11 CHINESE MIL FORUM > CALIFORNIA RUNNING OUT OF MONEY!? Milyuhns and Zilyuhns and Tilyuhns of Years and Decades of PERENNIAL CA STATE BUDGET CRISES + HYPERDEFICIT SPENDING = SKY IS FINALLY FALLING IN THE GOLDEN STATE. By EOM 12/2008 Sacramento may be forced to suspend any and all PUBLIC WORKS, ETC. PROJECTS - by 03/2009 Sacramento may HAVE NO $$$ FOR EVEN DAY-TO-DAY GOVT. OPERATIONS. Calif forecasted to have a approxi US$28.0Bilyuhn budget shortfall over the next two years [< Year 2010]. CALIFORNIA WILL NOT ONLY HAVE NO $$$ BUT MAY ALSO BE UNABLE TO BOND(S)-BORROW ANY SUMS FOR REMEDY. IOW, CALIFORNIA'S WOES = akin to GUAM'S OWN DILEMMA??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2008-12-10 21:41 |
| #10 Bright Pebbles, I think the reason the "Market Joe6Pack" isn't being bailed out, is that after the hurricane that has swept the credit markets in recent months only community, small and medium sized banks are in any sense viable. If you look at the bailout You would have to say that Bank of America, Citigroup and maybe JPMorgan and Wells may well end up being nationalized. The academics can't work out why the billions being pumped into the economy isn't working. The reason is that the infrastructure destroyed will first have to be rebuilt up around banks who still have the skills necessary to make viable loans maybe Bancorp and Marshall & Ilsley Corporation. Until the restructuring happens little if anything the govt does, using the existing major banks to leverage and create credit for the economy will be of any use. |
| Posted by: tipper 2008-12-10 16:46 |
| #9 When you're already into the government for 150 billion, you're not their debtor, you're their partner. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2008-12-10 12:25 |
| #8 tipper isn't it funny that the part of the Market Joe6Pack invests in isn't "bailed out" with his tax, but the part of the market that the limousine libs deal in is? They are going to cause a depression unless negative assets are removed, and quickly. The yield on the whole economy HAS to rise, and that means 1/ Paying back debt to lower debt repayment costs. 2/ Getting rid of non-performing assets. 3/ Writing of debt that won't be paid back. 4/ Cutting the cost of doing business. The government is doing the opposite of the above! |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2008-12-10 11:00 |
| #7 When you think Goldman Sachs remember Robert Rubin. Obama's Robert Rubin All-stars Larry Summers, who succeeded Mr Rubin at Treasury in 1999, will be his chief economic counsellor at the White House (and chairman-in- waiting of the Federal Reserve, if the rumours are to be believed). The Treasury Secretary will be Tim Geithner, Mr Rubin's protégé in the 1990s, and one of the three men (the others are Ben Bernanke, the present Fed chairman, and Henry Paulson, the present Treasury chief) who have been driving the US Government's response to the financial crisis. Goldman Sachs profits from sub-prime collapse Despite the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis, Goldman was able to profit from the collapse in subprime mortgage bonds in the summer of 2007 by selling subprime mortgage-backed securities short. Two Goldman traders, Michael Swenson and Josh Birnbaum, are credited with bearing responsibility for the firm's large profits during America's sub-prime mortgage crisis.[44] The pair, who are part of Goldman's structured products group in New York, made a profit of $4bn by "betting" on a collapse in the sub-prime market, and shorting mortgage-related securities. By summer of 2007, they persuaded colleagues to see their point of view and talked around skeptical risk management executives [45]. The firm initially avoided large subprime writedowns, and achieved a net profit due to significant losses on non-prime securitized loans being offset by gains on short mortgage positions. Goldman Sachs' newest acquisitions are to include the subprime portfolio of imploded mortgage company Popular Financial Holdings late in the third quarter of 2008. Detractors believe that Goldman wasn't quite as careful with its clients' money as it was with its own—its flagship Global Alpha hedge fund tumbled 37% in the global credit crunch. As most individual investments of hedge funds are not made public, however, no one can know exactly what assets the firm traded during the period leading up to the credit crisis. |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2008-12-10 10:48 |
| #6 My assessment as well Tipper. The scales began to fall from my eyes when Paulsonstein demanded he be given $ 750 million within 24 hours. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2008-12-10 09:49 |
| #5 The bailout of AIG was simply a prop for the credit default swap market. Many people attack the bailout as a prop to Wall Street, but this is not quiet true. It was mainly a bailout of a favored few on Wall Street namely Goldman Sachs, whose previous boss used to be Hank Paulson (isn't that a coincidence)and Morgan Stanley. The sooner AIG is put into bankruptcy, the sooner the economy can get back on its feet. |
| Posted by: tipper 2008-12-10 09:31 |
| #4 Aren't these the guys who are going to give $4Million bonuses this year? Watch for another bailout package, I have no doubt that its on the way. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2008-12-10 09:30 |
| #3 WOuld they have gotten the bailout if they had been honest about these losses? If not, is this not fraud? When is the government going to start doing its job? Are we going to have to do it ourselves? |
| Posted by: Hellfish 2008-12-10 08:18 |
| #2 My thoughts exactly, GolfBravo. |
| Posted by: DarthVader 2008-12-10 07:06 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2008-12-10 03:42 |