Wednesday, December 10, 2008

AIG Gets Even Sicker

From Calculated Risk, quoting the WSJ:

American International Group Inc. owes Wall Street's biggest firms about $10 billion for speculative trades that have soured ... The $10 billion in other IOUs stems from market wagers that weren't contracts to protect physical securities held by banks or other investors against default. Rather, they are from AIG's exposures to speculative investments unrelated to insurance, which were essentially bets on the performance of bundles of derivatives linked to subprime mortgages, commercial real-estate bonds and corporate bonds. Other trading losses include taking the Packers against Houston, Notre Dame against all comers, taking Blagojevich for a full term, and betting Black 7's on certain tables in Las Vegas.

Some of the above is true.

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