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Guest Post: AIG Chairman Says That You Just Don’t Get It
Submitted by Finance Addict
AIG Chairman Says That You Just Don’t Get It
Steve Miller is the chairman of AIG. Between 2008 and 2009 AIG received $97.8 billion in loans from the Fed plus four bailouts totaling $69.8 billion in taxpayer money. This is what Steve had to say yesterday when asked by Bloomberg TV’s Betty Liu for his views on Occupy Wall Street. The emphasis is mine.
BL: Steve, before I let you go, I’ve got to ask you about Occupy Wall Street, because that was big news yesterday–it still is big news today, but you know, these guys that are down there–these men and women down on Occupy Wall Street–are complaining about the very companies, like yours, AIG, that needed the federal bailouts and they’re saying because of that, we don’t have a job any more.
SM: Well, unfortunately I would say the understanding of the Occupy Wall Street crowd of what makes our country work is probably fairly limited. It’s a very simplistic view of things. No one will ever know what would have happened to our country and our whole global financial system if AIG had been allowed just to go down. All I know is that over a long weekend some very serious people in Washington, Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner and so on, made the decision to bail out AIG. They did it in a way that protected the interests of the taxpayers so that they would have the prospect of recovering all the money and that is our principal objective and we think we’ve got it in sight that we could make sure that every taxpayer got back every penny that went to AIG. And, so if it helped prevent a meltdown of the system, and you got your money back and a profit, hard to argue–
BL: [interrupting] But that’s lost on them, though.
SM: Of course it’s lost on them. They think, ‘You know, why are you bailing out Wall Street and not Main Street.’ And you have to have a view as to what would have happened if Wall Street had been allowed to just implode. I think it would have been devastating for our whole economy and that would have been far worse for Main Street than what did happen.
What can one say to this without resorting to profanity? A few things.
- It’s been almost three years to the day since AIG was bailed out. And guess what? AIG stil owes taxpayers $49.4 BILLION! That’s more than half the budget of the Department of Education. What was that about taxpayers getting their money back, Steve?
- A significant amount of the aid–$52.5 billion–was pumped into special purpose vehicles created by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to take dodgy mortgage bonds and other loan-backed securities off of AIG’s balance sheet and the balance sheets of its Too Big To Fail bank clients. Part of this constituted a back-door bailout of American and European banks. To get its money back the Fed will have to wait until these questionable securities mature, hoping that they don’t default in the interim, or sell them in the markets. The Fed tried to sell some earlier this year and, lo and behold, it didn’t go so well. It’s very difficult to say when and whether this money will be recouped.
- What did U.S. taxpayers get for the rest of the money given to AIG? Unsecured interests. We now own about 77% of the company via preferred and common shares. This means that should AIG go bankrupt–and by the way, their latest numbers look horrible–taxpayers will be among the last to be repaid. They’ll stand near the back of the line and watch as bondholders and other secured creditors get their money back first. How’s that for taxpayer protection?
- Experts say that we need to sell the AIG shares for an average of $28.72 in order to break even. What’s the 200 day moving average of the stock? $23.02. And this is before the end of the slow motion train wreck known as Europe. As I mentioned yesterday, American financial institutions’ exposure to Europe could be as high as $767.5 billion. If things really jump off in Europe, we’ll be in for chaos in the U.S. stock markets. Even if things don’t collapse we cannot just dump 77% of the company on the market; we’d need to sell in smaller lots over time. Long story short, we won’t see this money back for quite some time, if ever.
Finally, intentionally or no, the rest of Steve’s comments imply that the crisis brought on in part by decisions made at AIG were not devastating to millions of Americans. And yet:
- Except for a brief period in the 1980s, the official unemployment rate is still at the highest level since the Great Depression.
- Never before have we seen so many out of work for so long.
- The unofficial unemployment rate, including those forced to work fewer hours, is almost double the official rate (17% vs. 9%).
- A record 49 million Americans are living in poverty.
- The poverty rate among children is 18.2%.
- Almost 46 million people–close to 15% of the country–were on food stamps.
It’s not that we don’t “understand how this country works”, Steve. We understand it all too well–it works for you and your buddies on the AIG board. It’s not working out so well for the rest of us.
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he's right, we never do seem to get it. They always do
Them...Us...Tomatoe...ToMAtoe.
Let's just call the whole thing off.
He's right, I don't fargin' get it. The economy and the icehole banking systems of the world are passing into the shitter, their bells are in a sling and the silver price is basically crashing.
Can anyone explain that one?
C'mon SR you know they always hammer it before delivery to shake out the weak hands. They're just not doing it a 48 hours before this time. I kind of see this sell off lasting til possibly $27, even as low as $25 then it's margin hike time to tame the volatility (lulz)
Apparently JP's getting ready for a big delivery month in December too, moving 1.1 million oz from eligible to registered last night.
But what the hell do I know?
http://silverdoctors.blogspot.com/2011/11/jp-morgan-triples-registered-s...
Can anyone else confirm what the doc is saying?
Yeah. Look at the monthly chart and $25 does seem a possibility. $60-80 in the next year is also a possibility. Total backside tearage as the SHTF shortly after that seems logical too.
Damn, it's already that time again? Thanks. Works for me I just need to keep my cash handy. :-)
So delivery is based on a quarterly schedule? I need to figure out the next three windows for buying physical (assuming these bullshit shenannigans continue)
After thinking on this for a little bit more, this might be one of the last times they get to do this and are prepping for massive deliveries as connected people EXIT the paper into physical. Definitely time to get ready for buying.
Paper is collapsing. Physical is still +5% if you are buying it retail.
The situation is simple. Ignore the "market". None of us control it, have ownership, administer infrastructure of it. Why are you even using paper silver as the pointer? Call a jeweler.
Watching the market can help you buy at a discount for maximum stacks for your fiat.
Because we're planing on buying the fucking dips .... fuck the jewlers and their 200% minimum markups over spot. :-)
better still can anyone tell me which is worse for the tbtf... silver flying up or flying down...
going up brings attention to the silver price and will increase sales
going down massively increases sales with buyers like me who fill their boots when they can and further ensures decoupling of physical from paper making the play ridiculously obvious and recruiting more and more bugs to the cause and causing shortages...
up or down = potential shortages and hence result in clear and dramatic negative effect for those who would like to extend the duration of the the suppression..
Even if this time we have genuine liquidation of the paper slv etc these punters may relaise it's time to hold the metal... Paper is meaningless and decoupling will occur... expect crazy swings and keep stacking
With big deliver month coming up, expect a margin hike soon, bitchez!
I wish I could kick him in the mouth. It might be worth the jail time.
The Space Cowboy speaks!
I think he means:
HE GETS IT (the money)
WE DON'T (the money)
He talks repeatedly about "Saving the System" as if that's a good thing.
Clearly he doesn't understand.
The system is the problem. The system needs to implode.
You nailed it perfectly! The current ponzi we live under makes us powerless to control our destiny's if we live by "the rules". We either have to live in a Black Market, (so-to-speak), or suffer the consequences. Anyone on this board already knows to live off-the-grid to a point but wouldn't it be so much better if we had a "system" that rewarded thrift and allowed us all to build a future. I love this websight and the posters accordingly. What a breath of freash air.
"If they do it in such a way, that you get your money back... and you get a profit..."
Well, shit man, thanks.
Some people call him "the space cowboy", some call him "the gangster of love"...and some people call him "Maurrrrice", cuz he speaks of the pompetus of love.
Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas and oil, as well as current market conditions, the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off.
And another keyboard bites the dust......too fucking funny!! +1
the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train
I think his real name is Steve Shiller.
How come no one ever asks any of these fuck heads a real question, like "How do you feel about directly causing and profiting from the middle class' loss of $7 trillion in the residential real estate market?"
Us
And them
And after all, we're only ordinary men ....
That should be the theme of OWS.
easy to say when you live in the swells, not so easy to survive out here in the surf.
THEY SHOULD HAVE DONE SO 2 YEARS AGO!!!
Yeah, but inflation wouldn't have kicked in properly. AIG and the rest of the turds in the Federal toilet bowl all required that their PM bets came with a nice 300% increase.
So whatever AIG is paying back to the government pretty much worth a lots less than the granted boon or TARP/QE x.x/Bailout Dark pool/Usual slush funds/Pensions/etc. This was all discussed at the FAS committees three years ago with great glee and happiness. Same fuckers that took out mark to market on housing.
By the time AIG is finished paying back it's boon, that cool Trillion given will be worth a 100 million in real value. Meanwhile they'll make believe the trillion with 20 times the leverage (on a loan remember) is worth 20 trillion dollars in some phoney POS CDS/bond scheme that would have Charles Ponzi shaking his head in disbelief.
Of course that was the full intention of all the actions done so far. So the AIG Chairman is not remotely correct in our understanding of the situation. It is crystal clear. We understand fully to the point we are being led down the path of a Weinmar Banana Republic. Main street would have survived a bust, ditched the FIAT crap and switched to barter. It's a situation that is untenable to a joker like the spoil'd little blue blood shit sitting in the Chairman's seat which was given to him by proxy of his father.
All those years of saved labour and capital put into the system in the expectation of a return is what is throwing these idiots for a curve. Somehow they are surprised that nobody is willing to get it stuck in their ass by "them" and the rest of their banker ilk.
The funniest thing of all is when main street builds the gallows, he'll still wonder how nobody "got it" until the noose breaks his neck and suffocates him to death with his own fat ass courtesy of gravity.
Occupy Steve Miller
Bubba Occupy Steve Miller's Hole in jail
Hahaha...
Large block trades on the COMEX from yesterday:
Code Contract Type Exchange Price Qty Time OGG2|1780C Gold Options OPT COMEX 7910 600 14:20:37 CT OGM2|1780C Gold Options OPT COMEX 14600 300 14:20:37 CT"What can one say to this without resorting to profanity"
none. This guy deserves the best profanity.
Hubris...plain and simple. Hubris.
(there...I refrained from using any motherfuckin profanity)
ooops...my bad.
anyyone has a rope?
Is this why bug out bags are supposed to have one?
Finance Addict needs to not use "you" when referring to OWS.
I am not an Occupant. Maybe that's something Finance Addict doesn't get.
Protip: The Bolsheviks (Russian for "Majority") weren't the majority until nobody challenged their claim that they were.
Please STFU, Tory. We're coming for your monarchy.
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/11/corporate-monarchy/
"Our Congress has become the legislative branch of eBay — Congressmen are auctioned off to the highest bidder; they even have a Buy It Now button to get specific legislation passed. The executive branch has fallen under the sunk cost fallacy, afraid to prosecute banks because we spent so many billions bailing them out. It turns out that even our once venerable Supreme Court is just as corrupted, with lobbyists partying with Justices and backdooring ethics by hiring their wives."
Hit the nail on the head.
Cheers
haven't checked out Ritholtz in a loooooooong time...
maybe he's coming around from his SoftPatch™ views....
A bullet through his head would change his attitude.
Too easy on him - Bubba in his hole in jail for a couple years is much better.
I stand corrected.
Bullets cost money. There's a cost-effective alternative for that.
AIG Chairman Says That "You Just Don’t Get It."
Truer words have never been spoken - I sure the fuck don't.
One always needs to separate the messanger from the message. Message is 100% correct, messanger.... manbe no:)
Preserving a failed institution is 100% correct? Socializing risk is 100% correct? To avoid some pain? Fuck the messenger, the message, and its supporter.
"What can one say to this without resorting to profanity?"
i will resort to profanity by calling steve miller an arrogant full of himself cock sucking cunt...
wall street should have been liquidated like the cheap stupid whore that it is....it is managed by pretentious, foolish flatulent frat boys who are too incompetent to do anything but lavish bonuses upon themselves for untold fraud...
fuck the banksters.....
Wisdom is always proved by its results. When the whole system is collapsed because of all the corruption, maybe then will wallstreet understand how wrong they were.
They will NEVER admit they are lower than VERMIN, no matter what.
What do you have against cock sucking cunts?
What is the control number so I can log into to Proxyvote to vote these fuckers out, if it isn't too late? As a taxpayer and by extension a shareholder, I must have misplaced that proxy statement.
He's right. The majority of people cannot/will not/do not understand that they are simply a piggy bank to butt-rape for cash every single day. B/c if they did, scum like Miller would be hanging from street lamps.
Like this?
http://www.custermen.com/ItalyWW2/ILDUCE/Mussolini.htm
It's a start, though there may not be enough lamp posts, gas stations and other structures to hang all the criminals. Maybe those shovel ready highway jobs are worth something afterall?
got a friend who I can appreciate that lost his way in the AIG nightmare, he lives in the swells of life even today and still don't get it, after everything he has been through losing a career and sizable portion of his financial security. I just scratch my haid and wonder, is this mess ever going to hit the ground and find it's equilibrium?
What can one say to this without resorting to profanity?
i will do the dirty work here:
FUCK YOU STEVE MILLER!!!!!
Anybody have Steve Miller's email address so we can send him some hate email?
THANKS.
He conveniently leaves out everything leading up to the bailout. AIG wrote checks worth billions of dollars that could never be cashed. If you or I did that, we'd be in jail. But by doing that, AIG got to book huge profits and pay themselves huge bonuses.
There really are only two reasonable possibilities. Either AIG needs to be allowed to fail, or they need to be prevented from threatening the world economy by check kiting.
I think the OWS people understand the world economy a lot better than the fraudsters at AIG.
dont EVER forget, the backdoor funnel of money to Goldman Sachs at 100 cents on the dollar.......did i mention Hank Paulson used to be the CEO of goldman Sachs
no asshole, we all know how and what makes our country work.......and we are sick of it
For me the astounding void in the AIG bailout is this: How did it come to be that NY State insurance regulators did not assure that the insurance policy reserve portfolios were not insulated from a speculative derivatives operation? I've never heard an explanation, nor have I seen the regulators held accountable in any meaningful way. Who was it that was so grossly negligent?
Make him understand what a rope around his neck feels when his feet cannot touch the ground.
That's the problem with these fuckers. They won't understand, even upon death. Those last few seconds before they close their eyes to the screaming horde, they say to themselves, "WHY is this happening to ME of all people!?!?" The only thing you can do is rid the world of them every few generations.
You've hit upon an important point. Denial prevents the discovery of truth. Miller will die with his eyes wide in horror at how such a dastardly thing could happen to God's chosen: The Banker Class. Let Steve Jobs set the pace by demonstrating that no amount of money can deter the inevitable. To bring it to a lower level, my neighbors, friends, and relatives don't get it either. Their own lesser denial leads to the same end. A rheumy-eyed wonderment that THIS could happen to them, the loss of all they've worked for, no interest income on their hoarded wealth. After all, they have worked and paid their societal dues their entire lives. Well, news is about to hit the wire: Life ain't fair and people don't do right. Get over it and do the next right thing, which includes becoming aware.
Shorter Steve Miller: "Suck it up and cope"
Steve Miller is the "Come Take The Money And Run" singer right?
No truer words written or sung abut AIG.
Scumbag - we're coming for YOU!
And soon OWS will start Visiting the homes of these predators and kleptocrats!
Think Ginrich will save you?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WCFUGCOLLU
This here's a story about Wallstreet and AIG
Two old thieves with nothin' better to do
Than sit around the Bank, get high, and watch the Rubes
And here is what happened when they decided to cut loose
They headed down to, ooh, old Washington DC
That's where they ran into a great big hassle
AIG shot a man while robbing his castle
Wallstreet took the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Eric Placeholder is a detective down in Texas
You know he knows just exactly what the facts is
He is gonna let those two escape justice
He makes his livin' off of the people's taxes
Wallstreet, whoa, whoa, they slipped away
AIG caught up to her the very next day
They got the money, hey
You know they got away
They headed down south and they're still running today
Singin' go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Go on take the money and run
Cliff, it seems all those years at the USPS have not dulled your creative ability!!
Good One!!
DaddyO
I also remember reading that AIG, after its earnings of a couple of weeks ago, wants to buy back like 1 billion dollars of its stock.
//I think it would have been devastating for our whole economy//
No, you fck wad, it would have been disasterous for the parasites and the international finance cartel.
Main Street would have been affected, yes, but it would have been a "good pain" as the market was attempting to tell us that "hey, maybe having a largely non-productive, debt-financed industry as 30% of GDP is not a good idea."
Excise the parasites 2012!
Did he seriously name drop Paulson and Geitner ... ?
hahah
They are dumping gold today
To buy freaking "Angies List" IPO, up 30%?
Gimme a break....
Yes...Ridiculous...In the end it won't matter...
Benmoushe is an overpaid douche.
Once again I would trust Barney Miller over this bozo Steve Miller. Whats with all the fucktard Millers today on ZH?
Betty yum.
Spoken like a true banker.
arsewipe
Beyond words. Theseimbeciles will never get it. I like BL but she is just too nice most of the time and does not ask the hard questions. But at least unlike Melissa, Maria and the rest of the "brilliant ones" on cnbc, she has a brain and uses it.
You think these guys are stupid and then they open their mouth and prove it.
http://heavenbounf.blogspot.com/2011/11/hellish-deritaves-possibly-600-trillion.html Oh well don't worry folks this is just over the Horizon so AIG is small potatoes .....
I like Betty Loo. I was hoping for video.
Why isn't he in jail?
Well OWS are kinda clueless. It's much worse than they think. :P
What can one say to this without resorting to profanity?
I'm not sure Tyler, I've never tried it. These assholes are completely unconscious pricks. Had we let these banks fail LIKE THE LAW DEMANDS and put them in receivership...we'd have new banks by now and insurers like AIG would be out of business with no loss to taxpayers. Maybe even put some of these fuckers in jail and have us some rule of law. As it stands, we are just getting the slow death and being force fed rhetoric by assholes like Steve Miller.
I'd feel better in my ignorance if Steve's head was in a basket.
"I think it would have been devastating for our whole economy and that would have been far worse for Main Street than what did happen "
No. we get it. Larry Summers bailed out his friends, so they wouldn't up in the poorhouse. And you guys are back at it again. overleveraged, and preferential to shadow banking, instead of retail banking. The culture hasn't changed. So our protest is partially an embodiment of a town square criar: Shame. Shame. Shame on thee.
Fool me once shame on me. Fool me twice, and I get a f---king pitchfork.
Steve Miller needs a couple years of Bubba time in jail. Vaseline required.
I don't think Vaseline is standard issue in jail. That's gotta be why jailhouse lessons are so well-learned.
This is one point where I completely agree with Tea Party (why are we not hearing from them lately) - let the bad banks and bad institutions go belly up. This is what capitalism is all about reward the good and punish the bad, if you don't do them together then you create a big hole in the books somewhere either as deficit or as inflation. You are just shifting the ownership of a writedown.
True, it is very profitable to shift ownership of the losses to tax payers and then lie and say the tax payers were paid back at a profit.
CNBC, true spineless journalism, don't question the establishment because they are part of the establishment.
Why?
He's squawking like a parrot, gurgitating what his masters say. Keep him around to fuel the fire of his own destruction.
"We're so great you don't even know. We helped you with the organized crime problem we created and did you a favor we got rich on fixing" is nothing but pride dripping with cartel hubris.
-- right before the fall.
Tell that fag to fuck off by owning gold and guns to protect when he comes to take it from you.
I wish him the best of intentions behind bars, for his own life's sake.
+1000
the ropes will get it right finally
Can you post his email address, because I haven't thanked him for being so smart and saving the world he that he destroyed.
So many stories about how "tax payers" are on the hook but how? Does anyone seriously think that numbers that are unfathomable such as Trillions will ever be paid back? In your life time? Like the U.S. (or world for that matter) is going to dilligently and slowly make monthly payments, in perpetuity? Unless you're talking payback by debasement of the currency, I'm not sure it matters. ANd if you are talking debasement, it definitly doesn't matter. Unless of course there is ever a congress willing to raise taxes without fear of losing thier seat in the first place.
Obviously the 99% cannot begin to comprehend the genuis that is the 1%.
Actually we can, and instead or resorting to bonuses, (New York City!) We git a rope.
Although what a waste of hemp.
Pull the rope ... drop the blade.
Put Miller's words together with Dennis Gartman's from today and you have The Official Response to OWS:
Dennis Gartman Celebrates Income Inequality:
We celebrate income disparity and we applaud the growing margins between the bottom 20% of American society and the upper 20% for it is evidence of what has made America a great country. It is thechance to have a huge income… to make something of one’s self; to begin a business and become a millionaire legally and on one’s own that separates the US from most other nations of the world. Do we feel bad for the growing gap between the rich and the poor in the US? Of course not; we celebrate it, for we were poor once and we arereasonably wealthy now. We did it on our own, by the sheet dint of will, tenacity, street smarts and the like. That is why immigrantscome to the US: to join the disparate income earners at the upper levels of society and to leave poverty behind. Income inequality?Give us a break? God bless income disparity and those who have succeeded, and shame upon the OWS crowd who take us to task forour success and wallow in their own failure. Income disparity? Feh! What we despise is government that imposes rules that prohibit or make it difficult to make even more money; to employ even more people; to give even more sums to the charities of our choice. That is what we despise… oh, and next question please.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2011/11/17/dennis-gartman-celebr...
ROFLMAO ... 99.99999% of the elitists did not make their money by creating or contributing anything and many, by doing things that ARE illegal, unethical or(and) immoral.
To try to claim the high ground, while the money they claim to have "made" is not money created commensurate with value created and instead is created out of thin air, embezzed, given in return for bribes and/or stolen from those who create value, is the highest form of hypocrisy.
Usery, gambling, theft, Ponzi schemes, embezzlement and fraud may involve "street smarts", but people who gain money in the Wall Street way should at least keep their mouths shut if they do not have the maturity and inner vision to take a really hard look at what money represents and what they have REALLY accomplished. They should be humbled, rather that arrogant.
Employing more people in nonvalue adding professions and as accomplises to crimes should never be a goal. (what did you do today dear? It was wonderful, I scammed a grant from the government to hire another 20 petty thieves... uh yeah!) Contributing stolen or fraudulently gained or created money to charities is not something to be proud of... as the perpetually immature brag so ... If you want something to be proud of then create an environment where charities are never needed.
Maybe Steve doesn't get it. PEOPLE and companies that cannot run a good business deserve to be put out of business regardless of the consequences. If they take risk and then their bad gambling and embezzling habits make the companies insolvent then whoops too bad, fold them up and maybe there will be anither chance down the road.
However to be held hostage to the incompetents, gamblers and criminals is asking too much from people ... and yes I understand we are supposed to just be silent milk cows and slaves and the corporate rules are such that "we the people" do not have any rights and all benefits innur to the owners of the herd. (The problem arisis in that the supposedly "owned" do not acknowledge that they are owned... but when they finally figure out that is how the so called owners perceive us, that is when it will be hard for the owners to hide and keep their skins on. While it HAS started, I am surprised that we have not yet seen a few elitists taken down by a herd stampede.)
<=== AIG is a Treasury-looting zombie, BiCheZ!
<=== I would say the understanding of the Occupy Wall Street crowd of what makes our country work is probably fairly limited
this guy needs to get away?
steve miller band take the money and run
+1...I don't fault the OWS movement per se but it's just got no M.O....It's not a movement! It's a mob! And mobs are mindless...Thus my reluctance to see this as anything other than some sort of 'orchestrated,' 'set up the bowling pins just to knock them over' type situation
If it could be channeled towards something productive...
"And mobs are mindless."
I suppose that you can view them any way that you like (such as Steve does), but you seem unable to appreciate their raw potential value in Street cleaning...
You know what, I think everyone in the U.S should be able to sell CDS on AIG. Why not start out with each citizen selling AIG/Geitner about 1000 contracts @ 100 per contract. We can sell perhaps 100 million contracts. If they blow up, oops - we cant pay. Too bad. But we "would get it" - our nice bonus free money for each person.
Try him, execute him.
We don't know how the economy works? We get it perfectly. The people with money make the rules they want and ignore the ones they don't.
Cram it up your ass.
True See: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/11/corporate-monarchy/
"Our Congress has become the legislative branch of eBay — Congressmen are auctioned off to the highest bidder; they even have a Buy It Now button to get specific legislation passed. The executive branch has fallen under the sunk cost fallacy, afraid to prosecute banks because we spent so many billions bailing them out. It turns out that even our once venerable Supreme Court is just as corrupted, with lobbyists partying with Justices and backdooring ethics by hiring their wives."
“taxpayer got back every penny that went to AIG. And, so if it helped prevent a meltdown of the system, and you got your money back and a profit, hard to argue
sure we did!
Don’t forget the money supply has been tripled in the last 3 years.
The numbers may look OK but the purchasing power is not there.
Has he tried to buy a pound of coffee lately?
They must think we be dicks
Why buy into the premise that it is the 99% vs the 1%? This is a straw man.
The people to blame are liberal politicians [whether RINO's or Dems who cares] who created the climate for a socialist Amerika.
Your anger and frustration are misplaced. Stop being a tool and start using your brain for something other than a hat rack.
http://vegasxau.blogspot.com
You have the cart in front of the horse my friend.
See:http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/11/corporate-monarchy/
"Our Congress has become the legislative branch of eBay — Congressmen are auctioned off to the highest bidder; they even have a Buy It Now button to get specific legislation passed. The executive branch has fallen under the sunk cost fallacy, afraid to prosecute banks because we spent so many billions bailing them out. It turns out that even our once venerable Supreme Court is just as corrupted, with lobbyists partying with Justices and backdooring ethics by hiring their wives."
Who can afford to buy legislation? Let's see maybe big banks and big corporations. I sure as hell can't get my Senators or Representatives to introduce any of the legislation I have written. I am stopped out of the political process because I don't have lots of money to give to campaings.
See recent ruling by Supreme Court, Money = Free Speech therefore More Money = More Free Speech and Less Money = Less Free Speech. I am almost speechless my friend.
Cheers
-1 point for not getting it: the left-right divide is a red herring.
Free market capitalism needs to return and these parasites need to be allowed to shrivel away to nothing. The incestuous circle of big money flows between these leeches and the political leeches has to be broken. Until it is, us little guys will always be that- little guys. Politicos getting special deals that you and I can only dream of and bailouts that we pay for to Kennedys, Pelosis, Gingrichs has to stop. The current state sucks. The OWS crowd is an excuse and a ruse to make those of us really stuck with the bills for all this crap feal like there is at least attention being paid when really they are a sideshow that only hurts the working shlubs like us. Ah well, maybe someday the magic hand of Adam Smith will bring it all down baby...
These folkes just are not very introspective. They can't come to grips with the fact that the system that evolved over time is f**ked up because it's s system that made them rich. Don't know this Miller guy but despite common attitudes most of these guys came from middle income families and made good. Just like a 75 year old Arab refugee in a camp since 1947 they will never come to grips with reality. Their whole adult life would be exposed as a waste and fraud.
the global economy of "advanced nations" are finance based so the banks rule the government. The AIG guy is right, in finance and service based economy, allowing the finance part to collapse would have been devastating blow to the economy. What is necessary is for the US to move away from finance and service based economy and restore some balance where manufacturing, engineering, and other tangible goods based economy is given their weight. The idea of free trade is all well and good but the beneficiary of the free trade is just the top 0.1% corporate executives and the bankers as wage slaves get shafted globally. Some semblance of justice must be restored by erecting trade barriers to equalize discrepancy in currency differences and protect the working class of individual nations.
darn mouse is so sensitive ...
Where's the deer in headlights pic?
I think he's right that OWS are, generally speaking, uneducated on the nuances of finance and the system. They're getting more educated every day, though. That being said, his tone is that of a condescending dickhead. Not too surprising since sociopathy is a mental illness.
Well said. These bankster/terrorist-psychos belong in straitjackets locked away for life in Gitmo.
The self-entitled cocksuckers at AIG would be under qualified working as Wal Mart greeters.
nuclear bomb - NYC, WA DC...end of story...go away...nothing to see...take out a few in Europe and Asia, ME, elsewhere for good measure.....TPTB are the architects of their own destruction...no need to protest...
That's the real problem, the guys on Wall street never got penalized for their bad decisions, so as far as they are concerned, they did the right thing. If no negative consequences come, how can you say they were wrong?
The defense these guys use is always that the "system is so complex, you don't understand" if you say the system doesn't work. You don't need to understand the intricacies of pay-for-AAA ratings on subprime mortages that were then leveraged to buy CDS that were leveraged to buy mode MBS to see that it was stupid economically but very profitable for individuals in the short term. we understand precisely how the economy got fucked, and it wasn't because teacher's unions were getting rich off of $35,000/year salaries and health insurance. It is because the economic incentives for people who push around real money were (and still are) all skewed towards short-term gains at the expense of the system as a whole.
They have zero risk and everything to gain, why not just bet it all on black and see if you can make a cool billion overnight?
Take the money and run.
Also this from the same article..
"As the size of the Fed's balance sheet ballooned," continues Mr. Pento, "the dollar amount of capital held at the Fed has remained fairly constant. Today, the Fed has $52.5 billion of capital backing a $2.7 trillion balance sheet.
"Prior to the bursting of the credit bubble, the public was shocked to learn that our biggest investment banks were levered 30-to-1. When asset values fell, those banks were quickly wiped out. But now the Fed is holding many of the same types of assets and is levered 51-to-1! If the value of their portfolio were to fall by just 2%, the Fed itself would be wiped out."
Mr. Pento's and Mr. Mobius' views line up with our own, which we laid out during interviews on our trip to China this month.
Not surprising to hear that the banksters did the American taxpayers a favour by allowing themselves to be bailed out. In fact, the ungrateful American taxpayers should be ashamed of themselves for scapegoating the victims--Wall Street Banks. I hope Mr Miller remembers his words at a later date.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Total_Wall_Street_Bailout_Cost
http://dailybail.com/home/true-cost-of-the-wall-street-bailout-pbs-video...
The politicians and the Central Bankers are only working for the Wall Street and the bankers and make rules only to help those who are useful to them.
They bail out the bankers and the rich corporations (who should not be in business because of their incompetencies) without even changing their previous management because they fund the election campaigns and also place them in their organisations at exorbitant salaries once they leave office. This class alongwith the rich individuals pay the minimum amount of tax while getting the maximum benefit of the tax collected from the rest of the population in the form of bailouts.
The rest of the population is least of their concerns. The only activity they do is pacify the majority of the population using false statistics and promises of a better future so that they do not lynch them and their masters while they are robbing the taxpayers.
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/UserInfo-Akhil_Khanna.html
What an idiot.
Probably a good thing that the OWS folks don't understand, otherwise this asshole's corpse would be hanging from a tree in Zuccoti Park.
Very true, once the ignorant masses figure it out there might be some real fear in Washington and Wallstreet. But by that time OWS will be considered domestic terrorists, as Pelosi would say the Tea Party was underming the Fed Government by proposing budget constraints. WTF?
Pretty soon DHS will say "If you here something, Say something". Then we can become a full blown Police State like East Germany or the Former USSR.
This doucehbag is quite right. I dont fucking get it. I feel like ive been in the fucking twilight zone for 4 years and its getting weirder by the day.
I notice that Bloomberg.com (and other MSM Internet outlets) have started not allowing comment on certain online stories, particularly OWS stories. This just reinforces the irrelevance of the MSM to current events. Independent news sources (like ZH) on the Internet will only continue to grow.
Right, I have also noticed that at other sites. The crony/corporate/mainstream media is corrupt and an obvious JOKE, in every respect. They represent the propaganda ministry for the banksters.
Amazing.
Oh he gets it but like the rest of the Bankster scum he DARE NOT speak the truth.
learn to swim steve
Even if the US taxpayer got his money back, and "made" money on the bailouts....two things:
A) It's still a shitty investment, that the majority of people DIDN'T want to get into, but our Gov't did, continuing a long history of our government being the worse investor in the hsistory of forever, who is only outperformed in epic fail by Lenny Dykstra.
As I tried to explain to some right wing dipshit at work who regurgitated this MSM talking point, this is like saying in baseball you sign a First Baseman to a 300 million dollar contract who hits 60 HRs a year, but not only do you not make the playoffs during his time with the team because he eats up the team's payroll to fill other positions, but also it affects ticket sales and the team's revenue. In short, the HRs LOOK good on tv, ESPN, etc..... but in practice, it ends up hurting in the end (and in sports, usually by having to trade the guy for 0.50 cents on the dollar).
B) It sets a bad precident on a society when risk only applies to some, but not all. And it is even worse when it doesn't even hit YOUR pocket, only those who made the inital epic fail risk.
I mean, what did the working man get out of this, in the end? A 2K payroll taxcut (which they want to repeal next year)? Cash for Clunkers? I mean, I am generally against "at-all costs selfishness", but I mean, if you are going to tout that "greed is good", to the people, at least break them off some more.
I'm not getting a raise at my job, but they feel as long as they "treat me nice", at least us wear jeans on Fridays, we should be grateful. You know how you could be more grateful? Put more fuckin' money in my paycheck.
A CEO could take a huge dump on my desk, but as long as my pay goes up 5-10K a year, I'd be cool.
AIG is on the target list of OWS as it starts its new phase.
They will also be infiltrated by guys in suits and people carrying pizzas.
My suggestions were feces and urine in their food and coffee pots. Itching powder on toilet paper for customer restrooms.
There were other devious suggestions made. I trust they can take it from there.
Socialists and libertarians have a common enemy.
Does Steve not understand that the world does NOT need AIG ... and in the unlikely event that the world ever did need AIG, then it simply means that the system has been broken to the point where there is not enough competition.
REAL, (as opposed to faux) competition is not a sin, it is essential to all healthy and growing systems.
Do these totals include th $3 Billion of taxpayer money handed over to Goldman Sachs so that they were made 100% whole on their AIG bets? I'm sure that went a long way to saving our economy from an implosion.
Fuck this guy. These guys crash the RMS Financial Titanic, we saved their asses, they've done nothing to fix the problems....and now we're just simple children that don't understand what's going on when the adults are talking.
Funny that when it's a crisis and these guys need billions of taxpayer money they are on their knees begging us...but when they don't they get in their ivory towers and look down us passing judgement. Give us our money back and then show us how smart you are. If you are successful then feel free to pass judgement.
brainless.
spineless.
soulless.
bankster.
your right Steve, we don't get it. we don't get it because the rest of us have things like a central nervous system, morels, values and at least some sense of fair play. we are not sociopaths like you and your ilk, we actually care what happens to other people and we don't worship Satan. we would like to leave the world a better place for our children and die knowing they will have opportunities to be something more than debt slaves.
fuck off and choke on your paper Steve...I'm glad I don't "get it" because that means at least I'm still human.
Steve telling us "we don't get it" is like a nazi solder telling me that I'm dirty and direct me to where the shower room at Auschwitz is.
Dude, we fucking get it, especially now....and that is why PEOPLE ARE PISSED!!!!111
What a fuck-nut! If these guy's were responsible in running an honest and ethical buisness in the first place they would not have needed bailouts. They just don't get it that it was their buisness practicies thatb fucked everything up in the first place. So yeah OWS does get it asshole.
i keep telling ya'll...
until "we the people" start jackin' these mother fuckin bankers. and i mean, find one, kidnap one, and put a bullet n his fuckin dome, aint a mother fuckin thing gonna change...
be it clear....we r dealing with sociopaths...
they must be dealt with accordingly....
fuck all bankers and their bitch owned politicians....
im Kaiser Sousa and i approved this message......
Yeah, I understand government: “Goldman Sachs employees rotate into government positions, and the money flows back to Goldman Sachs, all courtesy of the American people.” That’s how Kirk MacKenzie puts it in his book, Money.
You don't understand: me and my friends are the world. And our personal economics were at stake. Therefore this was affecting the entire global economy. It was a crisis. And we responded by make sure our economy didn't collapse. We saved the global economy. You're welcome,
You forgot to mention that this douchebag was with Delphi before AIG.
Fuck you you fucking CUNT!
An interview by Bloomturd is propaganda by fascist thives . Mayor Bloomturd and his fascist mates have turned NYC into a shithole of corruption with poverty to follow.
Did this motherfucker "get it" when thought the CDOs they were selling were AAA rated?
Oh wait, of course they did. They paid the regulator at Moody's to "get it".
You do manage to find the best images and put the perfect labels with them, Mr. B!
the biggest scumbag company in the world, period!!!
-there existence is an abomination-
I see this all as a delaying action. All that these scumbags can hope for is that the next guy inline is the one that's gonna get the rope massage.
Put his head on a pike and affix this statement to the post.