Thursday, September 18, 2008

Mr. Bernanke is making history.

I mean, duh. But who knew, when he was our superintendent and neighbor, that he'd be spearheading some of the most drastic governmental financial interventions in U.S. history? There's Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac being nationalized, there's Lehman Brothers with their record-setting bankruptcy filing, and there's the AIG loan.

"The Fed has the option to purchase up to 80 percent of the shares of A.I.G., is replacing A.I.G.’s management, and is nearly wiping out A.I.G.’s existing shareholders. A.I.G. is to be wound down by selling its assets over the next two years...The Fed has never asserted its authority to intervene on this scale, in this form, or in a firm so far removed from its own supervisory authority."

Way to go, Ben!

Or, in ten years, pick the correct final sentence:
A) Way to go, Ben! (genuine)
B) Way to go, Ben! (sarcastic)

No comments: