Interesting tidbit from ABC:
An Oklahoma man who lost an eye and a leg in Iraq says the giant insurance company AIG refused to provide him a new plastic leg and fought to keep from paying for a wheelchair or glasses for the eye in which he has 30 percent vision.
“They bought the cheapest thing that [...]
Matt Taibbi, writing about the NYTimes op-ed “Dear AIG, I Quit!” by former AIG Financial Products employee Jake DeSantis:
Poor Gordon: When Gordon Brown visited the White House, he presented Obama with a pen holder carved from an anti-slavery ship. Obama gave Brown a set of DVDs. DVDs that won’t work on players outside North America.
Because my internet was out most of yesterday, I have a sinus infection, and AIG continues to be a catastrophe….
“Give it Back” Bill Passes House: With a vote of 328-93, the bill passed in the House yesterday that would put a 90% tax on bonuses given to employees earning over $250,000 at companies that receive over $5 billion in bailout funds. Republicans were split with 85 for (including Eric Cantor) and 87 against. Six Democrats voted nay.
AIG paid out over $100 billion in bonuses last week and the Obama administration indicated they might try to prevent this from happening. That didn’t happen:
Treasury has determined there is no way the government can actually extract the money from the individuals who already received the bonus payments. The government would face lawsuits with the potential of significant damage payouts and lawyer fees that could easily exceed the cost of the bonuses.
Simon Johnson is less than impressed with the results of Saturday’s G20 meeting of central bankers and foreign ministers. He writes on the blog Baseline Scenario: “It was a disaster – we face what officials readily concede is the biggest financial and economic crisis since the 1930s, yet this conclave agreed precisely nothing that will make any difference”. In a correlated article for the Telegraph, Johnson delves into the details.
It was announced yesterday that an additional $30 billion in government aid would be made available to AIG after they posted a $61.7 billion loss, the largest quarterly loss in history. They are not being handed the money yet but the Fed put it on the table so that the ratings agencies- who were on the verge of downgrading AIG’s rating, making what they do have useless- would back off.
I didn’t write about the government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac last week because of my overflowing workload. But that’s old news now, with the newest sound on the street being the impact the economy makes as it shatters on Wall Street.
The main problems at the moment:
Lehman Brothers, a major investment bank, has [...]
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