September 17 was Constitution Day. The federal government celebrated by staging the largest intervention into the private sector in history. With an injection of $85 billion of our tax dollars, our
federal government now owns a majority stake in insurance giant, American International Group.
AIG should fit nicely with the two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that our government seized last week. Of course, Fannie and Freddie also came with
liabilities of more than $5 trillion worth of mortgages, which are now liabilities of the U.S. taxpayers. Not to worry, the government doesn't intend to
incorporate the assets or liabilities of Fannie and Freddie onto the federal books, for now.
- Saturday, September 20, 2008