Should AIG Have Been Allowed to Fail?

[briantotse3]

Many, many other companies/banks and people relied on AIG.

[judoskeleton]

Regulation? When has regulation ever caught any of these blow ups? Its regulation that formed corrupt ratings agencies. Its regulation that created the gse. Its regulation that set interest rates so low that banks didn't have to worry about risk. Get the government out of the financial, and housing markets.

[starfireucsd]

What a crock of shit.......

[DeletedDelusion]

Prof. Michael Lehmann may not care about the bonuses of the CEO's of the failed banks, it's his good right.

On the other hand, I don't think his view is predominant among the majority of people.

The bonuses may only be a very small part of the bailout money, but I think the actions of these managers are detrimental to social freedom and stability.

[carthfhuil]

Obviously the TARP zombies just have to go away (as corporate entities). Of course the assets will be left behind for more capable owners. Bankruptcy sounds like a win-win to me.

[hasatum]

Wow, two guys manage to sound like they're saying opposite things yet I don't agree with either one. Why are we left with deciding whether to help government bail them out or help the government regulate? What about neither? If all these businesses were stupid enough (or corrupt enough) to put all their eggs in one basket and deal in fruity derivatives trading, we must let them pay the price. Otherwise we'll inevitably be left with worse businesses and government than we already have.

[carthfhuil]

Well said. It's amazing that so many "economists" don't actually understand how markets work. Obviously the market "worked" in this case, in spite of the efforts of the government. Companies that borrowed and lent beyond anyone's capacity to pay it back are now technically bankrupt. They should be bought by more capable hands and their debts liquidated. Putting the debt on us only zombifies the Treasury and the economy as a whole.

[winstonsmith00]

I agree

[drogden]

Also, most Americans were against the bailout obviously, but it still happen. Why? Because they don't work for us. They work for someone even more powerful then them.

[valhala56]

Your exactly right, that is the simple answer. They work for enties more powerfull the average Joe & Jane America.

They see us here as we see Sheep, to be used, only important is far as what they got out of us, now it is our duty to keep silent and get ass raped. Sorry for the mental picture, but I think an ass raping is going to be mild to what we are eventually going to pay.

[drogden]

Yes of course. Here's why: the money that was given to them was taken away from others. Therefore a equal amount of jobs/businesses were lost. Their competitors whom might have been a better working business have been robbed of a chance to naturally expand their business. Our governments debt to the banks has increased dramatically. It's against what America stands for. It's theft that's

justified by our government to feed the bankers covetous hunger, and perpetuate their standard of living.

[ALFIEAJAPAN]

Listen carefully: Two questions were asked in this video:

1) Should AIG be allowed to fail?

2) Should AIG have been allowed to fail?

Didn't they get some bailout money a while ago? Are they going to get more? When are you going to let them fail? Why didn't they just fail in the first place?

[Aaberg123]

Lol, the first guy's name is quite a funny coincident. Where's his brother?

[lumpfish99]

i would have let them fail...its capitalist market norms....if it dont work you cant sell it....i would then have allowed everyone to stay in their houses and repay when they could with obvious regulation and checks....that money would go into health and education, the only thing we should be looking out for....but I'm not part of the nwo.....

[artformeandyou]

Good video! Important issue. I say let them fail and back up the policies.

I agree that companies should not be allowed to get as large as they do. Starting with Walmart, we should start minimizing giant monopolies/oligopolies.

[Plutonwolf]

AIG should never have been allowed to become so large that its failure would cause the catastrophe its failure would precipitate.

Too big to fail?

Too big to exist.

Break up all of the other behemoths NOW!

[rationalskeptic7718]

Here, here! Unfortunately, we have now set a precedent.

[crayzal]

FORA is looking less and less like a thinker...

[artformeandyou]

Give a reason? This is an important topic to think about. How is this not appropriate?

[johnrainrules]

AIG should have been buried at the crossroads with a stake in its heart.

[whoo689]

Aren't economists supposed to be resourceful? How can ANY self-respecting economist worth his salt agree with a bailout? Surely there are better solutions than socializing the losses of any corporation. You mean to tell me there's NO free-market solution, and bailing out bad banks is the way to go? You might as well pack your bags and leave whatever institution you're working for.

It's too easy to be a statist economist and rely on gov't for your answers. Requires little scholarship.

[n8iveidiot13]

your right... it does take little knowledge if all your answers are basically coming from someone else or however you mean't it it i think your right

[whoo689]

God, I hate statist economists. They're the kind who say "The Fed is absolutely necessary" to keep our economy going, and without them, we'd all be 3rd world or some bullshit like that. Of course, now we know the Fed was a primary contributor to this crisis, so fuck em. Abolish that useless agency and get back to free-market banking. The government can plan few things well, and banking isn't one of them.

Economists who say that gov't intervention can "save" the econ. are idiots in my book

[whoo689]

This crisis still looms regardless of any fucking bailouts. Bailouts aren't the solution! The solution is to fix policy and promote growth. That also means no silly "stimulus" Keynesian nonsense. Put this idiot economist to bed, folks. He's not worth our time. Keynesian had absolutely no backing after his book was published, and it still has no real evidence. If spending was the vehicle for huge growth, Japan would've easily passed us by in the 1990s! But they failed to do so.

[whoo689]

Absolutely they should've failed! Let every fucking bad business fail. That frees up money and energy for BETTER businesses to take their place or new ones to rise up. Why in the hell do we think it's ok to privatize the profits but socialize the losses? Ri-fucking-diculous. Government should not be in the business of managing the economy and using favoritism to decide who fails and who succeeds!

I don't think letting bad banks fail could've been any worse than this crisis.

[Invain01]

split em up and let the weak ones fail

[Quipert]

First, they are not a bank so they can't be taken over by FDIC. Second, AIG was far to entangled with companies like Countrywide such that allowing them to fail would have been absolutely disasterous.

[alien13ufo]

yes i know they cant be taken over by the FDIC. Doesn't change the fact that they should be taken over LIKE the fdic does to banks.

[whoo689]

couldn't have been worse than this fucking crisis. Not like I'm expecting things to get better REAL soon. Job losses are incredibly high each month.

[alien13ufo]

they shouldn't have been allowed to exist. But since they did, no, they should have been taken over, split up, and resold FDIC style.

[MOpedordie]

In short. Yes. Let them fail.