[Lorianne]

My timeline is fine.

There never should have been any bailout to begine with.
The blame lies with the directors of the company. Let the shareholders take up their grievances with them.

NO BAILOUTS

EVER

[slowhandluke]

AIG was not bailed out. They were forced into a government takeover in lieu of bankruptcy, and their shareholders and bondholders scr*wed royally.

It was the counterparties to AIG that were bailed out, like Goldman Sachs.

Hank Greenberg was forced out, the government basically appointed the next set of bosses who made the bad bets that blew it up. In a real bankruptcy, the bets to Goldman Sachs would have been adjudicated in relation to the bondholders and shareholders. Instead the government forced a takeover, Goldman Sachs (and other counterparties) were moved to the head of the line.

The primary issue here is or should be rule of law, not who did or did not make a business mistake. Business mistakes get punished by failure and bankruptcy. It was the failure to follow the rule of law that puts the government folks on the hook.

I agree that there should have been any bailout, rule of law, bankruptcy law, should have been followed.

The government appointed directors have a share of the blame, and the government folks who rewarded Goldman Sachs during the takeover have a share of the blame. And yet you want the let the government off the hook, even though they had their fingerprints on every bad move made here.