Posted on 01/26/2010 8:41:23 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner held out hope to Congress that a hefty investment to bail out insurer AIG (AIG.N) and avert its catastrophic failure will gain value as the economy improves.
In prepared remarks for delivery on Wednesday to the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Geithner defended the controversial 2008 rescue and said it was done solely to protect U.S. taxpayers' interests.
...
The committee will question both Geithner and his predecessor as Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson, about the AIG bailout that has stirred widespread anger and raised questions about Geithner's role in it.
Just one year into the Treasury job .. Geithner will face stiff questioning from Republican committee members. But it appeared on Tuesday that Democrats were rallying behind him.
Geithner said that as of September 30, 2009, Treasury had invested $43 billion from its $700-billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, in AIG and estimated that it stood to lose $30 billion based on market values at the time.
"We believe that, depending on market conditions and the future performance of AIG's businesses, the actual recovery on Treasury's investment could be significantly higher," he said.
In total, AIG received a bailout in stages that was valued at about $180 billion.
One of the issues that raised Congress' ire was that AIG had paid out some $62.1 billion to big banks, including Goldman Sachs (GS.M) that were counterparties for credit default swaps that AIG had issued at 100 cents on the dollar to settle.
It took some months for the public to learn that the payments had been made at par, rather than at a discount and there were allegations that the New York Fed and possibly Geithner had counseled AIG not to reveal the payments.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
so after Obama leaves office?
Geithner does not know his from a whole in the ground.....
He also added, “Then again, maybe not, but it’s not my money, so whatever”.
So will that limited edition “Heroes of Glam Rock” signature salt shaker collection you bought for $19.95 back in 1982.
Of course they will, Timmy.
A formal criminal investigation into Geithner and Bernanke, among a few others, would do wonders......
I want my money back, Timmy, and I want it now!
Geithner is an a$$hole! AIG shares are nothing but a tax loss for me.. and, unfortunately, limited by the tax code to $3k/annually.
Screw this Administration and its special interests.
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