On Thu, Mar 19, 2009 at 8:06 PM, Gruss G wrote: > > Now the big problem is that AIG is also insuring LOTS of Americans, > including cash-value life insurance policies, not to mention > backstopping banks the world over. > > In other words, if that division falls, AIG falls, if AIG falls, > America falls, and if America falls, the World falls. > > Oops. > > Guess we shouldn't have gutted regulation and anti-trust. >
Gutting anti-trust was clearly a huge mistake, that is the biggest (pun intended) lesson of this crisis. Allowing a single company to get so huge that it's demise could trigger a systemic collapse is a blunder of colossal proportions. AIG's stock, interestingly enough, reached its peak of $103 on 12/8/2000, and it has been declining more or less ever since. It began that great climb, essentially, at the beginning of the Clinton Administration, and topped out just as Clinton was leaving office and the dot com bubble was bursting. So did it bet the farm on derivatives to try and recapture lost glory? Is that all, in the end, this story is really about- basic greed? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:292391 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
