By Bill Van Auken
http://www.wsws.org
17 September 2008
Following emergency consultations between the Federal Reserve, the US Treasury and the Democratic leaders of both houses of Congress, the Federal Reserve on Tuesday night announced a bailout of the Wall Street insurance giant American International Group AIG.
According to reports posted by the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, under the emergency plan the Fed will provide the failing firm with an $85 billion loan in exchange for 80 percent of its assets.
The reported bailout is a reversal of the policy adopted by the federal government just last weekend, when it failed to intervene to stop the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the country’s fourth largest investment bank. According to the Journal, government officials believed “it would be ‘catastrophic’ to allow AIG to fail.”
[…]
US Federal Reserve announces $85 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG.
see
Who Is A.I.G. And Why Should You Care? By Mike Ruppert (2001)
The U.S. Financial System in Serious Trouble by Prof. Rodrigue Tremblay
How the Masters of the Universe ran amok and cost us the earth
Fed nears a deal to take over ailing AIG
The Wall Street crisis and the failure of American capitalism
Lehman, Bear, Freddie, Fannie: What Does It All Mean??? by Josh Sidman
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Yes, very well stated.
Our govt has nationalized the losses but not the profits of these huge corporations. Time for us to speak up about it.
Undocumented workers should be able to get food stamps and healthcare, imo.
Since when did business failure deserve a reward? Why is it that our nation’s leaders are allocating our tax dollars to a non-governmental entity to bailout a company most of us could care less about? Since when does failure to operate a business properly merit the pity and hard-earned dollars of American citizens? I know of hundreds of business owners who have made mistakes in running their business; and not only does no one come to their aid one iota, but because they are self-employed business owners, even in a crisis they are unable to get access to simple financial benefits such as food stamps or Medicaid (that even illegal immigrants can get) when necessary!