Holman Gets It Right On AIG

I've been pretty quiet when it comes to my feelings about the AIG mess. I mean, I do work for them and see many of the businesses that are in the news headlines on an almost daily basis. They are all healthy and profitable sans the Financial Products and Global Securities Lending businesses.

However, in the face of public criticism (some warranted, and some needlessly incendiary re: Cramer Fiasco) there have been very few people out there that have gotten the outlook right.

In a WSJ column by Holman W. Jenkins Jr:

AIG, an otherwise healthy insurance company that went bust betting on housing debt, has already consumed taxpayer loans and capital injections nearly as big as AIG's $200 billion market cap when it was one of the world's most admired firms. AIG still has a valuable insurance business, but ignoramuses in Congress and the press are busy destroying it. The company sells many of its products through busy independent agents. It uses lush "seminars" to encourage them to sit still for pitches about why AIG should still be trusted despite AIG's purgatory in the headlines. But these seminars only produce more outraged grandstanding from the political commentariat.

It will take years for the government to get AIG off its hands, and there likely won't be much value left for taxpayers when it finally does.

The opinions made in this post are my own and do not reflect the views of AIG or its Executive Management Team