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Politics : The Obama - Clinton Disaster -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (2910)	12/10/2008 5:06:17 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 103300

"What I find comical is that these politicians are actually scolding GM for not being more efficient and productive with their time... is that the ultimate in two faced hypocrisy, or what?" Nah... BOTH sides are correct. They are both hypocritical and ineffective!

To: GROUND ZERO™ who wrote (2910)	12/10/2008 5:09:34 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 103300

AIG's loss creation Commentary: Infinite losses create a quandary for the government By MarketWatch Last update: 2:26 p.m. EST Dec. 10, 2008 marketwatch.com{AA4E87AA-9025-4C14-9D24-D5318D0AA2FC}&print=true&dist=printMidSection NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Another layer to the onion that is American International Group Inc. has been peeled away, and again, what's underneath is not pretty. AIG may stand to lose another $10 billion on bets it made in its financial products unit, according to a report in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal. Once the crown jewel of the insurance industry and the darling of ratings agencies such as Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service, AIG is revealing itself to be a bottomless box of bad bets and speculation that raises questions about the insurer's disclosure practices and regulation of the industry. As the Journal notes, AIG became a free-wheeling investment bank selling protection against defaults on seemingly low-risk securities, put billions of dollars of the company's money at risk through speculative bets on the direction of pools of mortgage assets and corporate debt. See AIG's rebuttal. More troubling is that the government already has committed more than $150 billion to AIG's bailout, an amount that does not cover these potential losses. It also raises legitimate questions about AIG's relationship with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. -- the former firm of U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. AIG was in danger of defaulting on billions in obligations to Paulson's former firm, according to the report. Even if the relationship is valid, AIG's debts across the financial services industry present what the regulators call a systemic risk. Without the bailout, AIG would likely have defaulted to Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank AG and Merrill Lynch & Co. It's why the government is being forced to eat the onion, even though it's proving to be rotten. - David Weidner End of Story