Whatever happened to “small government”.  Isn’t that a Republican trademark?  Now, thanks to our tax dollars, we (and I mean everyone in this country that pays taxes), own 79% of AIG, paying $85-billion, and of course manage Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well.  And how did you feel about paying out $24 million to the Mae/Mac executives after they were fired for doing a terrible job?  That’s not a “management decision” I would have made, would you?  Were you even asked your opinion as a manager, I wasn’t.

Officials decided they had to act lest the nation’s largest insurer file bankruptcy. Such a move would roil world markets since AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) has $1.1 trillion in assets and 74 million clients in 130 countries.

An eventual liquidation of the company is most likely, senior Fed officials said. But with the government loan, the company won’t have to go through a tumultuous fire sale.

“[A] disorderly failure of AIG could add to already significant levels of financial market fragility and lead to substantially higher borrowing costs, reduced household wealth and materially weaker economic performance,” the Fed said in a statement.

The bailout marks the most dramatic turn yet in an expanding crisis that started more than a year ago with the mortgage meltdown. The resulting credit crunch is now toppling not only mainstay Wall Street players, but others in the wider financial industry.

So we have nothing short of the socialization (yes, theirs that dirty word) of financial risk, and the subsidization of big boys who play in that world.  Now these are “for profit” organizations, so I would assume, after these companies are turned-around, that we will all see some sort of distribution of profits each year, yes?   A dividend?  A tax break maybe? 

Hmmm, I wonder if the Feds would bail out the New York Philharmonic, or The Met, should THEY go under??