scenes from a meltdown

AIG Lost $62 Billion, So We’re Giving Them $30 Billion More

Actually that’s not fair. They only wrote down $61.7 billion, which is a whole $0.3 billion less than they were expected to lose. But it’s still the largest corporate writedown in history, and of course means that the U.S. government, which already owns 80 percent of the insurance giant’s assets, has to step in with another loan, because they already said it was too big to fail and there’s no turning back now. Which means the AIG page in Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s ledger looks a little something like this:

Loans to AIG
September: $85 billion.
October: $123 billion ( $85 billion plus loaned an additional $38 billion; promised it would be enough).
November: $150 billion (restructuring, plus $40 billion injection).
February: $180 billion. Fuckers.

A.I.G. Reports $61.7 Billion Loss as U.S. Gives More Aid [NYT]
U.S. Extends AIG Bailout by up to $30 Billion [WSJ]

AIG Lost $62 Billion, So We’re Giving Them $30 Billion More