Published: March 2, 2009
The federal government agreed Monday morning to provide an additional $30 billion in taxpayer money to the American International Group and loosen the terms of its huge loan to the insurer, even as the insurance giant reported a$61.7 billion loss, the biggest quarterly loss in history.
The loss of $22.95 a share compared with a fourth-quarter loss in the period a year ago of $5.3 billion or $2.08 a share. For the year, A.I.G. lost $99.3 billion or $37.84 a share, compared with a profit of $6.2 billion or $2.39 a share for 2007.
When Peacenik got up this morning and turned on the news, the news was all about the markets in Hong Kong and Tokyo being down. And the Dow futures were down too. Then at 6 a.m. comes the news that A.I.G. lost $61.7 billion in three months. And the U.S. gov't is going to give A.I.G. another $30 Billion. Do you think Peacenik likes all these numbers early in the morning. Peacenik can barely remember when to use question marks this early in the morning. But, Peacenik thinks something is happening. Oh yeah, the Bank of Canada is talking about "quantitative easing." Peacenik thinks that means "printing money" to inflate your way out of debt.
Nothing is working. The global stimulus plans are having no effect. Giving taxpayer money to insolvent companies is having no effect. Confidence is shot. Trust is shot. Yes dear readers, the black hole is hungry this morning. Insatiably hungry. Other than that it looks like a nice day.
