We just gave AIG $30 billion.  AIG is also suing us over a tax matter, so we’re paying to sue ourselves.  And now we’re going to pay for AIG to defend itself from … its former CEO:

This is sad and kind of awesome. Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, the man who built up AIG into the global powerhouse, before being forced out by Eliot Spitzer, is suing his old company for securities fraud. Greenberg says that mirepresentations by the company caused him to overpay for the stock.

It’s as though he killed his own parents and is now complaining because he’s a fucking orphan.

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The contract jobs I work on have been outsourced in part, mostly to India.  That’s why this warms my cynical black heart:

NEW DELHI — Satyam Computer Services, a leading Indian outsourcing company that serves more than a third of the Fortune 500 companies, significantly inflated its earnings and assets for years, the chairman and co-founder said Wednesday, roiling Indian stock markets and throwing the industry into turmoil.

Sweet.

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First it was the banks. Then Fannie and Freddie. Then AIG.  Then Shittybank. Then the automakers. Then the former millionaires created by Bernard Madoff.

And now the Donald Trump contingent wants in:

From the NY Times: A Wish List for Commercial Real Estate

Commercial real estate groups have been meeting with members of Congress, the Federal Reserve, the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as well as Mr. Obama’s transition team, to press their case. And they say they have a compelling one.

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Since none of you bothered to bid, it looks like Iceland is officially bankrupt:

The credit crunch claimed its first sovereign scalp last night as Iceland readied itself to accept an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout. … The IMF may provide about $1 billion in emergency cash for Iceland with the balance lent by Norway, Sweden and Denmark and additional money possibly coming from Russia and Japan.
…
The IMF is likely to attach stringent conditions to the loan, including the stipulation that Iceland quickly deleverage its three nationalised banks Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitner.

Who’s next?  Pakistan? California? Did you forget Poland?

Report: Iceland to Accept IMF Bailout [Calculated Risk]

Not to turn Stinque into Calculated Risk, but:

TITANS 102.73 -7.36 -6.69%

HSI 14796.87 -1146.37 -7.19%

NIKKEI 8276.43 -881.06 -9.62%

STI 1948.33 -154.38 -7.34%

CHINA 2000.572 -74.011 -3.57%

KOSPI 1241.47 -53.42 -4.13%

SET 451.96 -48.03 -9.61%

ASX-200 3960.7 -360.20 -8.34%

My guess is Dow down 5-7% today … but who knows!  Isn’t unfettered capitalism teh awesome?!!!1?!

Small Country 4 Sale – €4.2 trillion Euros OBO

Located N. Atlantic Ocean, pop. 320,000; 285,274 BR; 279,305 FB; 102,992 HB; 103,000 sq. km. lot.  Excellent loc. due to global warming; first world infrastructure w/ old world charm.  Includes abundant geothermal energy, great fish stocks, and Bjork. Recently 4th most productive country in world.  All reasonable offers considered. Payment methods acceptable: rubles, euros, MC, Visa, Diners Club.  No personal checks, no US$-denominated offers.  Ask for Mr. Haarde.

• it’s not ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

PostingID: 86763248

“Mark to Market” accounting means that you show assets on your balance sheet at their market value.  Although the SEC and FASB (an organization that writes accounting rules) are resisting, the bright lights in Washingon are working to have the mark-to-market rule suspended:

Congressmen, banking lobbyists and companies including American International Group Inc. have urged the SEC to suspend fair-value accounting, saying it forces firms to report losses they never expect to incur. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and other proponents say removing the rule would erode confidence that firms are owning up to losses.

If we close our eyes, think real hard, and click our heels together three times, the toxic waste on our balance sheets will magically turn into ponies, and everybody gets one!

Representative Todd Tiahrt, a Kansas Republican, said the House probably would have approved a $700 billion bailout of financial companies yesterday had the legislation included a suspension of fair-value accounting. The House rejected the measure 228-205.

It would have passed “easily” if the rules had been suspended, Tiahrt, who opposed the legislation, said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. Read more »