Cantwell: Who Are The AIG Counterparties?

[dalson00]

Maria cantwell believes killers should be set free and not punished and thats why she is advocating for convicted murderer amanda knox.

[CivilusDefendus]

He NEVER even gets close to answering Cantwell's question. If AIG requires more regulation to make better business decisions, then let them FAIL. Liquidate and pay those first in line. This is a business that ignored sound business practices. And you and I are paying for their hubris. (Cantwell is the better of the two Dem senators in my state.)

[calebboettcher1]

maria is a great women to voice the people of washington she doesnt take shit from those blood suckers !

[debtfreecurrency]

How about bernanke.. he's a dual israeli citizen isn't he? I think he's a rabbi anyway. Whats his name.. the guy who wrote the patriot act and was Head of Homeland Security under Bush... Chertofff! He's another damn dual citizen of Israel. Why do we have all these israelis in the American government? I don't get it. No wonder the government supports the Nazis in Israel unconditionally. The damn Israeli dual citizens have taken over! No more dual citizens in the government, period.

[debtfreecurrency]

Is this criminal thief geithner another dual israeli citizen? remember Dov Zackheim comptroller of the Dept of Defense when Rumsfeld announced the pentagon couldn't account for 2.3 trillion, the day before 911? Dov, a rabbi and dual citizen of israel was in charge of the pentagon accounts during the time the 2.3 trillion disappeared. Never heard another word about him or the missing trillions. Did he move to Israel? Then theres Rahm Immanual, Obamas COS,

who served 2 years in the Israeli Army!

[Dewdaahman]

"..without oversight.." who told AIG they could insure a farm in Germany..?

@1:01 in this clip Geithner says "in the judgement of your government.." excuse me, is he speaking about a government other than his own..? (us and them)

@3:35 Geithner says "it would be much better for us and for you.." wow, there he goes again seperating himself from us..

Are we not all in this lifeboat together..?

just thought I'd point out an observation and wonderin' if others got the same impression..

[CityofDestiny]

I agree! I thought this was quite interesting - that he repeated that "your government" made this decision. I looked up a bit of his history, and his use of this type of rhetoric is troubling at best.

Reading over his bio, I will have to build confidence in his ability to truly understand the issues facing the American people resulting from corporate greed.

These statements by him are not building my confidence...

[MizBehavin007]

Timothy Geithner needs to resign, better yet, removed from Federal Service.

[DONEwCA]

Who thinks we should have voted for Hillary ?

With Obama's;

Previous drugs

Not turning over a certified birth certificate

Leaving IL in 11.5B$ debt

All this spending

An attorney for Toxic Mold Slum Lords in IL

Mess with ACORN

Seem's NOTHING he's done ends on a positive note.

[DONEwCA]

Looks like we're going to WAR again.

Monster posted 1000 Navy jobs for; Dr's, Dentist's, Nurses and Officers on 3/13. Army posted 1000 jobs on Careerbuider today.

Guess more America children and parents are going to die for Corp America big bonus exec's. Any AIG kids in the war?

Like our Gov didn't know until the last minute the bonuses would be paid.

If the exec's were fired a year ago for the bad job - NO bonuses !

Like Dem's made a call at the last minute to try and stop it. Ya right.

[LiquidSmooth]

This is no surprise to any congressman or the President. There are alot of typical americans where i work, the kind that just drink, watch network tv, and just are a real average american, and EVEN THEY SAID THIS WAS GONNA HAPPEN..

So obviously, Obama knew it before he signed the thing.

And it should be no surprise we are going to war. Obama was saying so in the DEMOCRAT PRIMARIES. When Obama was debating Kucinich, Obama sounded similar to Bush trying to explain "No WMDs."

[chick7489]

hmm long..but great video! absolutely loved it from the very beggining! It really had me going. Looks like there having a great time.

[Sphixn13]

fuck off im not subscribed anymorE@@!!!!

[averageworkinggal]

As Geithner explains, it's about a disorderly bankruptcy affecting the insurance companies of AIG rather than AIG FP that would cause the greatest damage.

The collapse of AIG FP (Financial Products) would in itself cause alot more damage than Lehman and may take down Goldman Sachs, BofA(Merrill Lynch) and some big Euro banks.

The AIG insurance companies have been unwound from the shared AIG investment pool at the cost of $50B, so they can be sold off now and not be taken down by the AIGFP.

[annarboriter]

If billionaires and millionaires lose their confidence in the economy, then we'll all suffer, right? Is that what he was dancing around?

[RzaGzaGhostfaceKILLA]

they say that we cant not bail out these insurance companies because our whole economy would die, but then WHY aren't we see ANY of these greedy piece of shit bankers and executives behind bars? THEY were greedy and it fucked us all over so send them to sing sing for LIFE. Smoking weed is more illegal than fraudulent banking, so i say we dust off the old electric chair and fry some real criminals

[JSErwine]

Anymore I'm just asking myself if these guys have giant balls of steal or no souls.

I mean only crackheads expect to barrow money and not tell you what they are spending it on.

Crackhead: "Can I barrow $20?"

You: "For what?"

Crackhead: "I can't tell you that or you probably won't give me anymore money"

This all starting to get realy predictable.

[llshamelessll]

just get back to work slaves. dont worry about what we're doing.

talk about ineffective oversight. and they say trust us.

[zorex00]

YES! We want to know specifically where all that money is going.

Without that info, NO CONFIDENCE in Obama or his financial lackeys. On with the Revolution!

[776281]

Time to stop throwing good money after bad. Let AIG go, catastrophic damage is being done to the economy.

[themange59]

Good to see her actually do something.

[eightbitgnosis]

Not bad Cantwell. I don't regret voting for her

[blackrubberbag]

Pathetic power hungry people attempting to appear important and informed for the purposes of their own self aggrandizement.

Their policies will lead us all like slaves to our cells.

Revolution 2.0...the time is now.

[robbe21]

I like how he tries to look really, really serious about what he's going to say, yet all that comes out is the usual evasive nonsense.

[VisionQuest2012]

Warren Buffett called derivatives 'financial weapons of mass destruction.' Investors look at the derivatives markets to make a decision to buy or sell securities. AIG insures securities. The derivatives market is over 500 trillion. Securities are being sold off which means someone needs some capital. Home mortgages were bundled up as securities. Some were given prime status when in fact they were sub prime. There is more to all this that is not being talked about. This guy is not being honest.

[Dewdaahman]

another alternative..? how about go back to the Constitution..?

[Dewdaahman]

"..avoid entanglements.."  it is time to hold these criminals responsible..

[VisionQuest2012]

AIG insured securities and not savings products as this guys says at 2:07 What the hell does he mean savings products?

[1960DLB]

It Is GOLDMAN SACHS

[McCainTheTurdburglar]

Motherfuck! Answer the fucking question and quit the spin. This is the same bullshit we got from the Bushies. FUCK!

[gisforgary]

geithner is a nightmare -- he never should have been appointed -- he is the mistake that will bite the president on the butt over and over again until he resigns or is replaced in 2012. these corrupt insiders/lobbyists need to be out. the president would like to imagine a world where everyone plays fairly in the sandbox but these people just want to kick down the sand castle we just built and then sell it back to us and at 33% interest.

[MACKATTACK1970]

McCainTheTurdburglar, You fucking hit it on the head, it doesn't matter who is in power whether it is the piece of shit Bush or Obama.

We ARE BEING SCREWED BY FORCES THAT WE ARE NOT AWARE OF. WHO THE FUCK ARE THE COUNTER PARTIES, WHO IS RECEIVING THESE HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS THAT OUR CHILDREN AND GREAT GRANDCHILDREN ARE GOING TO PAY FOR?

Damn this government, when will it stop helping the Banks, Wall Street, AIG, Big Oil and Multinationals from raping and robbing us?

[sachaput]

This is a situation where nobody really knows what may or may not work. All the government can do is to try to slow some of the leaks before the whole dam comes crashing down.

I just heard today that the FDIC may be running out funds and our savings will no longer be protected. Time for a new mattress!

[chena3]

read my lips

WHO IS THE COUNTER PARTY RISK ....

until there is transparency ...

ie ..where did the money go ...

there is no hope for recovery ...

is all about the confidence

woof ..

bad doggie

no biscuit

[gisforgary]

transparency after the bush years is a boogie man under the bed bigger than you might imagine. complete transparency now would probably be the end of the us as we know it -- which might not be a bad thing. the sun will still come up if aig is around or not. just as an example nobody knows how much money bush's treasury printed. the general assumption is the dollar is worth less than a paper towel. tomorrow needs to be a new day so we can stop living in fear of the bush administration.

[freepress666]

what he said, your government made the right choice, who's his government, I can tell you now all of the money is lost , just in a few weeks they will tell you that they dont have a plan they can only try things,

[CYLONEJACK]

They want to know where the money has gone AFTER they gave it to them? WTF

[33115566]

...then there is the confidence issue in regard to the people and the Federal government....his use of pronouns should be a tip as to his orientation.

[maestros21]

the system is unworkable anymore...

destroy fed!

[rundoetx]

More double speak. face it folks, the elite are spening our money like there is no tomorrow wheile they maintain thier lifestyles and we take it in the shorts. Our elected officials are useless. Has the revolution started yet?

[kurktchian12]

doubt it .... many blind and dumb people who still trust the system and do not realize these leaders aren't elected to changed the system but to maintain it....

[CliveSinclairZX]

fuck off

[luchamini]

95% of Americans have no stake in this AIG horseshit in any way and wouldn't spend money in any different way because of its collapse. "Oh, I get my insurance from AIG and they collapsed... guess I'll call one of the dozens of other companies out there. What's on TV tonight dear?" Goverment money(OUR MONEY) saving the rich... THAT'S what this is all about.

[quietearthMT]

Exactly right.

[cajunsatan]

Who are the counterparties?? That is really easy. Goldman Sachs won lots of AIG credit default swaps, which means that if AIG goes under Paulson and his rich buddies will loose their ass.

This bailout is all about stealing from middle class America for the rich share holders of Goldman Sachs.

Why would ANYBODY listen to these fucking lying assholes?? They have lied at every hearing they attend. Bernanke said the economy was strong just 6 months ago. Wake the fuck up idiot america!!!

[Pleblian]

I hate to say it but Geithner is right. He's saying AIG has put themselves in a position where they can't be trusted especially in foreign markets where too many people will be affected by it's failure.

He's basically saying companies like AIG created a passenger ship made of card board it's sinking fast and it's too late to complain about the fact it's made of cardboard.

I guess Cantwell wants to make sure the captains go down with the ship.

[luchamini]

AIG did put themselves in this position and they are continuously losing... why are we throwing more money to them? They have shown no way to fix the issue with all the money we have given them and will keep losing what we give them. Let them fail so we can save our money for the people that need it.

I still believe strongly that this is all about killing the dollar completely so we can switch currencies.

[playfyte]

Confidence?? What confidence?? I don't have confidence in ayone who wears a two hundred dollar tie and a two thousand dollar suit to work. Who makes his living from other people's money. They tend to be greedy. They tend to be liars. They tend to be unpatriotic. The only thing they are loyal to is the acquisition of more wealth.They don't care about their neighbors, their communities or their country. If you are dishonest and deserve to fail then fail. We will be better off in the long run.

[volumedealer1]

The fed is not part of the government

The people are the master who are pulling the strings.

They caused/created this crisis and they will supply the solution to look as though they are doing something about it.

Problem/Reaction/Solution

[alby711]

That's why he keeps saying, "your government". I really hope that we as a nation will wise up to bs policies of both parties of more gov and demand change. I don't own a gun bc I'm broke at the moment but I believe soon like 5 to 10 years from now we will have no choice but to revolt and violently take back our country as history has proven thats the only thing tyranny answers to, but like the Roman Emperor Juvenal once said, "give them bread and circus and they will never revolt."

[czarwright]

bail bail bail instead of plugging the holes.

spend your way out of debit.

and charge it to China.

....and we wonder why our school system is almost in last place in world.

just look at all the smart people over here. :op

Go Back to sleep this is only a movie only a movie, your reality will start tomorrow =)

May it rest in Peace, because we not going to live in it much longer.

Peace=)

[drazmod]

And the bail outs make us confident?

[terpis]

you know something that comes to mind? Sure, Soviet-style comm'ism was shite...though the argument is credibly made that the Cold Warriors ratfucked every attempt to innovate indig'ous socialisms...

if a real set of soc'ist alternative models existed, we'd be better off today for the competitive pressures of a different POV. at least an alt set of institutions would be around claiming to treat its people better. calling the bluff of our bankers & their pols.

Instead its this rank bullshit.

[achampag]

they are just pissing our money away

[WadeBlazingame34]

UNWIND and defuse the Credit Default Swaps you mofos!

[milkgodnl]

The AIG chariman does not appear to be American .. rather his citezenship is to a corporation that operates globally. .. So they appear to be holding This American hostage. Now tell me again, who permitted the corporate state, to whom this AIG guy is a citizen of, to flourish at the expense of This Amearican Taxpayer. .. and Rate Payer ... and Consumer .. and (if I were someone else) .. A Soldier.

[Richardgwm]

Any company that is "too big to fail" is too big to be allowed to exist. Any company that is "too big to fail" must be broken up into several smaller companies.

[jpickles]

Two people not really on the same page. Obviously Cantwell has no clue what Geithner is talking about... and Geithner is not being very direct in his statement. This is a clear case showing that politicians talk too much, but hardly for anyone's benefit but their own.

[Alderon714]

Bailing out AIG to hold their assets up in price while they get out of whatever market items they are demanding we support to take the final hit is INSANE.

Let the mother's fail!

Price adjustments were part of the Free-market till the Central Bank and Governments started maintaining unfair prices to allow graceful exits by their campaign contributors.

Can not people see this for the farce it is?

[CarryANation]

AIG's long serving legendary CEO was Hank Greenberg up until just a few years ago, when he was ousted for accounting fraud. He was just indicted last year.

Hank Greenberg was also Warren Buffet's long time partner at Berkshire, their business relationship was so close Buffet used to refer to "Hank and I" in his beloved newsletters.

These guys run the insurance industry, and they are both as crooked as hell. But Greenberg is the "bad cop" Buffet the "good cop".

[zndprophet]

"that alternative does not exist"

I think that sums up what so many people don't understand. They are more likely to think it's a lie to excuse theft on the part of the banks than the sobering truth. Geithner admits uncertainty about the success of the AIG bailouts, but he is certain about the effects of it crashing.

People don't want to accept sobering truth, and so they would rather see what's behind door #3, naively assuming it's better, instead of catastrophically worse.

[gangreneday]

but by that rationale you could argue anything. It's basically the old "Best of all possible worlds" argument Voltaire argued against. He is "certain" about the effects of the AIG crash, yet he wasn't certain he owed taxes? Geithner is a human being. Not an oracle. He isn't certain, no more than you or I.

[zndprophet]

Well, it's tough trusting anyone with your money, or our money, so it's understandable to be suspicious of everyone and everything, but if we were to do nothing, and things got really bad, I'm sure there would be utter outrage and 20/20 hindsight of "how come no one DID anything about this!"

This is just a situation no one could win in. You do nothing, you piss people off, you do something, no matter WHAT it is, and people get pissed off. People think it's either simple, or its stealing.

[mikepalomino]

I agree with rossde - well said! Cogent and insightful comments on your part. If only every other YouTuber could be as rational and clear-headed as you are instead of raving madmen.

[zndprophet]

Thanks I appreciate it...sometimes the world starts to look pretty crazy if you judge it by youtube comments, but these are all people who are very uninformed, and not filtering their thoughts or words at all, just commenting out of impulse.

[jokertim777]

zndprophet,

Thanks for making me laugh with your pseudo-intellectual posturing. I especially enjoyed your idea that everyone who disagrees with you must be "uninformed." Man, that's rich!

Geithner is just a poor put upon guy working really hard to do a good job for the American people eh? These people with their skepticism and demands for transparency just aren't smart enough to understand the complexities of this nuanced situation, huh?

You not really that gullible, are you?

[zndprophet]

no, not everyone who disagrees with me is uninformed, just a lot.

And I didn't say demands for transparency were stupid, I said they were natural, actually, if you read up just a few comments. we've already seen how these things can be abused, and you know what-they'll probably be abused again, because if you sit on your ass trying to make everything perfect, shit can get really out of hand, the main thing is to get things done before they do, not to play idealist while the world crumbles

[jokertim777]

Its been out of hand for a long time. Why do people wait until the bust phase of a bubble to notice that things are out of hand (and scramble blindly)?

Your argument is completely dependent on FAITH that those in charge are:

1. Working for your best interest

2. Doing things that will help the situation

It is not idealism to question those two very big assumptions on which you are basing your point of view.

The answer to too much centralized power is not more centralized power.

[Geographer76]

Because those who are responsible for oversight were too busy taking kickbacks to report on the failures.

You can thank;

Barney Frank (House Ways and Means, Chairman) ,

Chris Dodd (Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, Chairman) ),

and

Max Baucus (Senate Finance Committee Chairman)

for this fiasco.

[jokertim777]

Congressional oversight of Fannie and Freddie were failures. But we are talking about the real culprit of the economic bubble, the FED.

Congress doesn't even have regulatory power over the FED. They can do whatever they want and not even tell Congress what they've done.

That's why you will be seeing bills introduced to Congress that force the Fed to reveal what its doing to combat this crisis. Anyone interested in real oversight needs to support these bills.

[Geographer76]

Freddie and Fannie were given a clean bill of health by the DNC led Congress, only a few months before the failure of both. The two mortgage agencies were the start of the financial tidal wave that we are now buried under. The other banks that suffered the first failures were threatened by Democrats with lawsuits under provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act, if they didn't make risky loans. Now that some of the people have been bailed out 58% of them have re defaulted on their new loans

[jokertim777]

I completely agree that those two things helped determine how and where the bubble would form. The air to inflate the bubble (excess credit creation) was supplied by the Federal Reserve. Democrats did a lot to get us into this mess. Republicans are also to blame. Bush publicly repudiated free market principles and became our nations Herbert Hoover with his stimulus checks and his Treasury Secretary Paulson's banker bailout bill. But remember, without the Fed, none of it COULD have happened.

[Geographer76]

The Fed did indeed play a part, there are very few blameless in this.

My main point is that for all "Bush Bashers" to put this on one man is ludicrous. Bush, Congress, the Fed, the banks, the lenders, even the buyers, are all guilty in this. To blame any one person is moronic.

In an earlier post I named the Congressional members who had oversight responsibilities because they had the job and the "reponsibility of oversight", and could have mitigated the damage. But they failed.

[rossde]

@zndprophet Extremely well said.

[uheardmebitch]

i love it how they make it sound like they're answering. but they're saying nothing at all.

[PatricksTime]

the plan sucks!!!!!!!!!!

geithner can't pay is own takes how is he supposed to run the treasury?

[greatbroad]

I want A.I.G. heads to roll and A.I.G. people going to jail for a long, long time.

[zapponsalvia]

That explanation was completely non-edifying. Seriously, he should come prepared with a diagram and specific examples because most people have no idea what AIG does exactly.

[flang]

Most people complaining atm probably don't even know what AIG stands for, doesn't stop them from bitching.

[chumashfalcon]

I don't think Maria can understand a damn thing he is trying to tell her. She keeps asking "who would it have been bad for that would have caused the problems for americans and their savings"

Well maybe thats not how it works Maria, maybe there is no specific companies he can name, because AIG failing would destroy the economies of the WHOLE WORLD. Just like he said, aig is so large and operates in so many countries that a failure would ruin capitalism everywhere.

AIG must be broken up.

[CarryANation]

"a failure would ruin capitalism everywhere"

So it has already failed, we're just propping it up with tax money now.

[spmandmtgr]

good for here borvo to her for telling him hey lission the ppl dont want to spend money on aig give us some thing else or it go in to bankruped...

[averageworkinggal]

No disrespect to Hank Paulson, but Geithner did a superb job of explaining the problem.

The numbers I've seen:

$440B of AIG CDSs is the US.

$600B of AIG CDSs in Europe.

If default protected banks lose their AIG CDSs if AIG goes down, their balance sheets take a big hit and many of them go bust. Also insurance companies that sold their risk to AIG.

AIG is the new name for systemic risk.

[jokertim777]

What? He bumbled and stumbled his way through without even answering the question.

First he said the "entity" was VERY important and had to be saved. Then he changed it to they weren't at risk, it was the other, harder to quantify, issues like confidence that were the real problem. That's called DOUBLESPEAK and its not better than what old Hanky Panky used to give us, its the SAME nonsense being spouted by another sock puppet of the Fed. In what way is that "superb" again?

[mmmtoblerone]

He has to be careful because a run on insurance would be devastating and the consumers wouldn't have the same protections that they have with banks when their assets fail. If he said on C-SPAN what he really is afraid of, he could make it worse because of actions of people who don't understand now that there is a danger so they aren't cashing out their life ins, etc. Congress should ask him off-camera. The entity issue is that the ins co. is stable, but the hedge fund part of AIG is not.

[mmmtoblerone]

People will likely say, screw the hedge fund part because we don't care about the speculators. However, the losses are tied to the ins. co. because they are divisions of one company instead of two separate entities. The hedge fund losses would suck out all profits of ins side and then some as well as everything on the hedge fund side. Once that happened, again, ins policies canceled and life ins cashed out would create worse problems like a bank run.

[mmmtoblerone]

Then when there are no assets, you get in an accident and despite years of premiums paid, you have no insurance and are on the hook yourself. Die and your family has nothing, not even funeral costs. Airplane crash, industrial accidents, etc. and the companies are screwed and their premiums are wasted money. If they can keep them afloat until they can figure out how to weed out the credit default crap, they might be able to save people from losing premiums and being uninsured overnight.

[jokertim777]

Consumers only have the illusion of protection under the banking system.

Aren't people entitled to cash out their life insurance?

Congress is asking him on camera because they're making a point. There is no transparency or accountability of what the Federal Reserve does and after the Bush Bailout Bill, there's now none for what the Treasury does either.

When your entire monetary system depends on confidence, its nothing but a con.

[neekz666]

fuckin crooks

[averageworkinggal]

The new name for AIG: Systemic Risk, Inc.: SRI.

[voyeurdug]

Wonder if/how much/many private retirement plans are (were) backed by AIG?

[KLNDR]

Eff yeah Cantwell. Originally from WA here. ;D

[Cheshirecatmeow1]

Yay! WA state actually did something worth commenting on...sort of.