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Hey, look! It's Bestfriend! Where the hell have you been?
Now for the good news concerning the whole AIG thing and the governement "bailout." This is from TechTicker...
True, Paulson was late in reacting to the crisis last year, and probably wishes he had the Bear Stearns-JPMorgan transaction to do all over again. But consider the following:
An over 11% return on the 2-year, $85 billion loan to AIG, which is pretty stellar considering the government's 2-year borrowing cost is currently under 2%.
$1 billion of senior preferred stock in exchange for the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailout loans, with a 10% dividend to compensate Treasury for the use of taxpayer capital.
The kind of clout and respect his Treasury predecessors, Paul O'Neill and John Snow, could never muster.
Clearly, Paulson is the right Treasury secretary at the right time -- which make his assertion that he won't stay past the current administration all the more troubling.
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