Comments on: Greenberg Sues AIG

By: leftback

leftback — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:26:56 +0000

Maurice was just a humble insurance salesman, making an honest buck. Uh-huh.

By: Darthdad

Darthdad — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:01:36 +0000

Don’t kid yourself Hammering Hank was always in control even from afar, filing suit against the board DO for downplaying the swaps at the annual meeting was a given, he’s still mad as hell for having to step down, Jeff leaving MM was more trickle down related to the cou de ta to dismiss Hank with prejudice. However, having been on the flip side Hank aint no saint and has played the bad VC many times, using the VC 101 playbook to perfection. Many an entrepreneur learned the Delaware shuffle from Hank……..”Whoever double-crosses me and leaves me alive, he understands nothing about Tuco

By: ben22

ben22 — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 12:49:05 +0000

Hank, you are getting exactly what you deserve. What a tool this guy is. Also, someone else said this on a different thread but did you ever hear of diversification? Or, as another famous quote goes, if you put all your eggs in one basket, you had better watch the basket. Hank, you weren’t watching the basket, were you.

By: Mike in Nola

Mike in Nola — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 09:38:15 +0000

I’m not a fan of Greenberg either, but the important story befhind the story is the hidden bailout of Goldman and other financial houses using AIG as a conduit. These counterparties had been using AIG CDS to game banking regulations and would be rendered insolvent by AIG’s collapse. Why should they be completely protected?

Some others are writing about this also.

Roubini: http://www.rgemonitor.com/roubini-monitor/255816/the_rising_risks_of_a_global_l-shaped_near_depression_and_stag-deflation

Joe Nociera: http://executivesuite.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/02/who-are-we-really-propping-up-with-the-aig-bailout/

Some of the Senators pressed Bernanke on this during the March 3 hearings and they are introducing legislation to require identification of countrerparties and who is getting the money. I hope this becomes a big scandal that causes the removal of some of the Goldman influence, e.g. Geithner and maybe even Bernanke, from the current administration so it can get down to fixing things instead of propping up failed banking houses.

By: David Merkel

David Merkel — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 06:06:03 +0000

This is rich. Yes, the derivatives expanded after Greenberg left, but he jacked up the leverage consistently on his tenure to meet the ROE target, as the ROAs of the 80s could not be maintained. When he left, the leverage was 4x what it was in the glory days of the 80s, and the accounting had arguably diminished in quality.

Greenberg is responsible for the demise of AIG more than anyone else. The only pity is that he was not there managing it when it blew.