No one really knows the actual volume of the CDS because CDS is over the counter transaction. Meanwhile, the nominal account of the CDS is not really the value of the CDS. US government will save Citi and AIG because most US residents have insurances in AIG and investment in Citi. If Citi and AIG bankrupt, most US residents will lost their wealth and at the end, it is the government who has to bear all the insurance contracts. So AIG and Citi will not crunch, just have the possibility to become government owned.
Millions in AIG bonuses draw chorus of outrage
43 mins ago
WASHINGTON 8211; Leaders of the White House economic team and the Senate's top Republican bellowed about bonuses at a bailed-out insurance giant and pledged to prevent such payments in the future.
From one Sunday talk show to the next, they tore into the contracts that American International Group asserted had to be honored, to the tune of about $165 million and payable to executives by Sunday — part of a larger total payout reportedly valued at $450 million. The company has benefited from more than $170 billion in a federal rescue.
AIG has agreed to Obama administration requests to restrain future payments. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed the president's case with AIG's chairman, Edward Liddy, last week.
"He stepped in and berated them, got them to reduce the bonuses following every legal means he has to do this," said Austan Goolsbee, staff director of President Barack Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.
"I don't know why they would follow a policy that's really not sensible, is obviously going to ignite the ire of millions of people, and we've done exactly what we can do to prevent this kind of thing from happening again," Goolsbee said.
Added Lawrence Summers, Obama's top economic adviser: "The easy thing would be to just say ... off with their heads, violate the contracts. But you have to think about the consequences of breaking contracts for the overall system of law, for the overall financial system."
Summers said Geithner used all his power, "both legal and moral, to reduce the level of these bonus payments."
The Democratic administration's argument about the sanctity of contracts was more than Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky could bear.
"For them to simply sit there and blame it on the previous administration or claim contract — we all know that contracts are valid in this country, but they need to be looked at," McConnell said. "Did they enter into these contracts knowing full well that, as a practical matter, the taxpayers of the United States were going to be reimbursing their employees? Particularly employees who got them into this mess in the first place? I think it's an outrage."
In an interview that aired Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke did not address the bonuses but expressed his frustration with the AIG intervention.
"It makes me angry. I slammed the phone more than a few times on discussing AIG," Bernanke said. "It's — it's just absolutely — I understand why the American people are angry. It's absolutely unfair that taxpayer dollars are going to prop up a company that made these terrible bets — that was operating out of the sight of regulators, but which we have no choice but to stabilize, or else risk enormous impact, not just in the financial system, but on the whole U.S. economy."
AIG reported this month that it had lost $61.7 billion for the fourth quarter of last year, the largest corporate loss in history.
In a letter to Geithner dated Saturday, Liddy said outside lawyers had informed the company that AIG had contractual obligations to make the bonus payments and could face lawsuits if it did not do so.
Liddy said in his letter that "quite frankly, AIG's hands are tied," although he said that in light of the company's current situation he found it "distasteful and difficult" to recommend going forward with the payments.
Liddy said the company had entered into the bonus agreements in early 2008 before AIG got into severe financial straits and was forced to obtain a government bailout last fall.
The bulk of the payments at issue cover AIG Financial Products, the unit of the company that sold credit default swaps, the risky contracts that caused massive losses for the insurer.
Goolsbee acknowledged the AIG example could make it harder to sell the administration's financial plan to Congress.
"Yes, you worry about that backlash. But you're also angry that this would happen at an institution that has been so troubled and you're trying to save. So I think that's perfectly fair," he said.
Goolsbee appeared on "Fox News Sunday," and Summers was on CBS' "Face the Nation" and ABC's "This Week," where McConnell also was interviewed.
smileymoon 发表评论于
Don't know much about Citi, but AIG has over 400 subsidaries. Most of them are healthy and making money. The only bad sector is the one that is related to the sub-prime crisis. That's why AIG is being divided into 4 companies now, as an effort to save the divisions that ARE running well and making a profit.
There is nothing wrong to vent or complain in your own blog. But, I would say, since your blog is public facing, you should at least do some homework and understand the topic you're writing about a bit better. No one knows everything, so maybe you could try to be a little be more humble?
Blog is a wonderful thing. It let people express their views, even though most of these views are "too simple and sometimes naive".
Seriously, the idea of letting AIG or Citi go bankrupt is plainly stupid. That's why the US government is spending silly money to keep them alive.
金笔 发表评论于
回复hzgg的评论:
BOA, Citi Group, AIG 拿了我们纳税人那么多钱,难道喊两声,骂两句,发泄发泄都不行吗?如果它们真的好,为什么一些参议员会发声也让它们破产呢?再说了,靠政府救助也不符合资本主义精神啊?!
hzgg 发表评论于
You are very nonsense and arbitrary, lack of basic financial knowledge and understanding.
Please don't mislead anybody here who is not in the financial field. You have no ideas about citi group and BOA. Their cash flow is healthy and their market value are not as down as shown on the financial reports.
The problem is the financial regulation made by the regulators. Hopefully they start to wake up.
I hate people like you here, Bu Dong Zhuang Dong. Don't copy anything by googling and try to impress readers here. At least, show your integrity.
viewer 发表评论于
哪儿也不到的桥
http://biaochiwang.com/blog/archives/335
By 鲁克
如果谈到联邦政府的拨款,美国人脑子里一定会浮现这几个糟糕的词语,Earmark ,Pork-barrel ,Pet project,Big Dig以及去年竞选时Palin 常提到的Bridge to nowhere。
爱好英文的朋友这时候一定很感兴趣,那么我们今天就先谈谈Bridge to nowhere。Bridge to nowhere字面的意思是“哪儿也不到的桥”。奇怪了,真存在一座哪里也不到的桥?其实这还有一段故事,在阿拉斯加州,有一座孤岛名字叫 Gravina,岛上住了五十几人,他们进出都得依靠渡轮,特别是往返Ketchikan(阿拉斯加州的一个地区)机场。于是他们盼望能有一座桥,这样开车可以很方便的来回,不过预算下来这座桥将耗资3.98亿美元。这样一笔巨额开支,他们当然不会自己出,于是想到了政府。不过用联邦财政花4个亿来帮助五十几个人实现通车方便,在旁人眼里这确实有点不靠谱。但当时还真有几位“热心”的议员积极地向国会争取这项工程的拨款,架这座桥贵虽然贵点,但反正不是自己掏钱,也就无所谓了。不知道大家心算能力怎样,如果旁边有计算器的话,最好按按除法运算,联邦财政在这项工程上的耗费,相当于给了岛上每个居民多少钱?我想用这些钱给他们每家买辆小游艇或者配置一架小飞机应该没什么问题。后来在2007年9月,Palin州长废弃了这项工程。这座Gravina桥,就是所谓的Bridge to nowhere,大家现在应该清楚了什么是Bridge to nowhere。
这种类型的专项拨款,说白了就是浪费公款。现在奥巴马执政,他说要开始大规模建设项目,他在Recovery.gov 网站公布了2009年度的《美国复苏与再投资法案》的草案。他预算光在基础建设和科学上的开支就要达到1110亿(专家认为其中约有600-700亿用于基础建设),在这些预算里还真不知道有多少个Bridge to nowhere,而且他给出的只是一个蓝本,民众还无法知道“Where is My Money Going?”,更别说是他所谓的负责和透明了。单说基础建设,奥巴马说要用80亿在全国范围的开始高速铁路建设。稍微有点常识的人都知道欧洲都快建成了高速铁路网,其高速铁路线绝对是不少的,可是欧洲人乘坐高速铁路人并不多,平均每年每人乘高速铁路约100哩(miles),相比高速公路,其利用率是每年每人50000哩,我们可以看出所谓的高速铁路网利用价值并不大。高速列车票价昂贵很少人去乘,再加上运营维护的成本,结果这种投资造成得不偿失。奥巴马所谓的高速铁路同样也会是一个Bridge to nowhere,是在大规模浪费纳税人的钱而已。
政府在桥梁道路的建设方面的开支,不能只为了所谓“创造就业”,私营的投资通常要考虑回报,原则上按成本效益上分析。而为了建设而建设的政府开支往往会忽略其开支投入后对社会产生的价值回报,如果这种建设对多数人无益,那么所谓“创造内需”的吹嘘只能是徒有虚名罢了。倘若政府这项基础设施建设确实能够起到促进桥两头的人们快速通畅,人们通过这座桥,往来两地增加了彼此生意的机会,提高了效率,因此产生了一些新兴的工作,这当然对于地方长期发展是有利的。但是如果只是单纯的找一帮失业的人来架桥铺路以解决他们的个人失业的问题,那么这座桥无疑就是Bridge to nowhere。
金笔 发表评论于
回复Tianyie的评论:
Pls google with: CDS Market and trillion......
Tianyie 发表评论于
Are you really sure the CDS is 50 tr? where do you got this information. IT is too important to know. If that is true, MKT will go down to 2800