Daily Archives: March 16, 2009

AIG spent how much??

On the news that AIG gave $90 billion to other banks, I say: well, yeah.

AIG is an insurance company. It guaranteed a lot of bonds and other assets owned by many banks. A lot of banks depend on that insurance to keep them from going bankrupt. If AIG had gone bankrupt, many of those banks would as well. That’s why the government keeps pumping money into it. So news that they’ve given $90 bil. to  other banks  is nothing more than recognition that the threat to rest of the banking system, American and European, is real and that government support of AIG is probably the right thing to do.

Can you believe it?

Friday came and went without one bank closing in the country.

Nada. Zero. Zip.

Does this suggest a trend?

Probably not. After all, there have been 17 bank and thrift closings since the beginning of 2009. And the economy has not improved.

Still, change in this instance is kind of refreshing.