After quickly burning through $143 billion - yes, billion - and eying much more, maybe bankruptcy will be a better alternative for American taxpayers. No sense throwing good money after bad, especially since the internal financials appear no better today than a few weeks ago. Something very wrong has happened there and for starters, the government needs to keep its hands on ever last penny AIG has including stock sales to current or former shareholders. Nothing here smells right.
A number of financial experts now fear that the federal government's $143 billion attempt to rescue troubled insurance giant American International Group may not work, and some argue that company shareholders and taxpayers would have been better served by a bankruptcy filing.
The Treasury Department leapt to keep AIG from going bankrupt on Sept. 16, and in the past seven weeks, AIG has drawn down $90 billion in federal bailout loans. But some key AIG players argue that bankruptcy would have offered more structure and greater protections during a time of intense market volatility.
AIG declined to comment on the matter.
