Actually, had they been left to fail I think it might not have been "them" anymore, but us. AIG's connections, via "insurance" on securitized mortgage products, were so pervasive that your local bank might well not have had money to operate had AIG gone under. These insured funds were held by banks, by funds, and by investors literally all over the world. If they go down, you might not be able to write checks.

Secondly, all that came from only one rather small part of AIG - the rest of the company appears to be solid. And it will never be the same, for the way they will get the money to pay us back is by selling off their other divisions to cover the losses and get cash. That's essentia...

Actually, had they been left to fail I think it might not have been "them" anymore, but us. AIG's connections, via "insurance" on securitized mortgage products, were so pervasive that your local bank might well not have had money to operate had AIG gone under. These insured funds were held by banks, by funds, and by investors literally all over the world. If they go down, you might not be able to write checks.

Secondly, all that came from only one rather small part of AIG - the rest of the company appears to be solid. And it will never be the same, for the way they will get the money to pay us back is by selling off their other divisions to cover the losses and get cash. That's essentially the deal, as I understand it: government loans money to temporarily cover their losses so the banks that have claims against them don't fail, and they sell off their assets to pay back the government and possibly even close down the company.
We're better off without the worldwide bank failures that an AIG bankruptcy would have caused. You and I can still write checks!

Masbury how much of your money is in AIG, Goldman Sachs, BAC, etc? There have been MANY bank failures, not one person has gone without their money. Only the rich are hurt by the failures of the behemoths-most average Americans have their money in smaller banks, many who are failing due to the crisis they did not create. I wonder if the FDIC could have insured all of the little guys money for less than the cost of saving the big guys. While there is merit to the argument that doing nothing would have caused a massive failure of the financial system, there were/are many options besides bailing out the bad guys. Only a few people talk about them, so many are left with the impression that we h...

Masbury how much of your money is in AIG, Goldman Sachs, BAC, etc? There have been MANY bank failures, not one person has gone without their money. Only the rich are hurt by the failures of the behemoths-most average Americans have their money in smaller banks, many who are failing due to the crisis they did not create. I wonder if the FDIC could have insured all of the little guys money for less than the cost of saving the big guys. While there is merit to the argument that doing nothing would have caused a massive failure of the financial system, there were/are many options besides bailing out the bad guys. Only a few people talk about them, so many are left with the impression that we had to bail them out. Yes it was a short term save, but a long term FAIL, imo. These corporate monsters will continue to prey on us and take our money, just like the government does. We have allowed corporate oligarchy to rule this country and buying the excuse that not bailing them out would have hurt the little guy is just what they want you to do.

A real solution that benefits the little guy, capitalism, and America in the long run: debt to equity--help the individual debtor, not the corporate oligarchs--if you no longer encourage too big to fail risk taking-- no more excessive risk taking occurs--make em pay for their idiocy. Regulations or not, we will have another bubble and crash until they realize no more bailouts-ever. There is no amount of regulation that can forsee the creative financing these people can come up with. I say our government will only help the little guy from now on. It will ...

A real solution that benefits the little guy, capitalism, and America in the long run: debt to equity--help the individual debtor, not the corporate oligarchs--if you no longer encourage too big to fail risk taking-- no more excessive risk taking occurs--make em pay for their idiocy. Regulations or not, we will have another bubble and crash until they realize no more bailouts-ever. There is no amount of regulation that can forsee the creative financing these people can come up with. I say our government will only help the little guy from now on. It will take 2 or 3 times for the corporatists to get that we're done saving them, and until then, we're all gonna pay in much bigger ways. I put down 33%, took out a fixed rate 20 year mortgage, and I've no equity today--but AIG is paying the taxpayer back--do you see the irony?