AIG did not pay the money, US taxpayers paid the money. Why did treasury decide to save AIG but just the day before let other big players fail? Hint, AIG owed GS 13 billions and without that 13 billion GS goes under too. So it's OK for everyone but GS to fail huh? Curious that Treasury and Fed are full of GS employees isn't it. In laymans terms GS owns the Treasury and the Fed. Both are more then happy to give GS billions and billions of tax payers monies. That you are cool with all this doesn't not make you a capitalist, it makes you an accessory to grand larceny.
I think JasonC's posts have been one of the most disgusting exercises in economic Orwellianism that I have ever seen on FR. Because I take serious issue with the incestuous relationship between Goldman Sachs and the Fed and Treasury, and the fact that GS would not be posting a profit now if it didn't get that $13 billion in AIG backstop money from the Feds, I somehow am anti-capitalist and pro-goverment spending.
As about an absurd a statement as one can make. Rationalizations such as this are why so many Americans now hold Wall Street in complete contempt. It's one thing for them to have screwed the pooch so completely. It's another for jackasses like JasonC to come to FR and act like they are virtuous and limited-government critics are not.