tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post2403807970087043641..comments2023-10-26T00:43:12.789-07:00Comments on Skeptical CPA: Bust-outs and the Paulson MobIndependent Accountanthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07800220849565219709noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-56228393786724651582010-02-15T07:18:26.497-08:002010-02-15T07:18:26.497-08:00Anonymous:
I don't tweet. If you want a "...Anonymous:<br />I don't tweet. If you want a "tweeter" follow Junior Deputy Accountant (JDA). JDA keeps up with my posts.<br /><br />IAIndependent Accountanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07800220849565219709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-84656359641403211662010-02-15T05:25:33.562-08:002010-02-15T05:25:33.562-08:00quite interesting post. I would love to follow you...quite interesting post. I would love to follow you on twitter.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-76230544892841553192008-11-23T10:25:00.000-08:002008-11-23T10:25:00.000-08:00RKORAS:I've concluded some of this post was misund...RKORAS:<BR/>I've concluded some of this post was misunderstood. I'll prepare another one to explain in detail what I think is happening at AIG. Consider, to "bust out" AIG would require say, converting $20 billion of AIG's assets to physical currency. Then the "bust-out" artist shows up at AIG's offices with some trucks and drives the currency off. That won't happen. I cited the cases I did to show what type of cases typically get prosecuted under 18 USC 152, i.e., simple, easy to understand ones. What's going on at AIG appears to be subtle.Independent Accountanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07800220849565219709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-51556753017895983162008-11-23T08:37:00.000-08:002008-11-23T08:37:00.000-08:00Indy Accountant:I see your point. Great article!Indy Accountant:<BR/><BR/>I see your point. Great article!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-46652692214899770962008-11-23T07:13:00.000-08:002008-11-23T07:13:00.000-08:00Several themes apply here:-The fable of the Empero...Several themes apply here:<BR/>-The fable of the Emperor's new clothes now applies to our culture's former "Masters of the Universe"!Nobody wants to be the first to slay an icon<BR/>-Enlightened despotism: a "necessary" way station during national emergencies, or so Paulson and the entire apparatus including magnates and tycoons would like us to believe. At many junctures in our history we've endorsed suspension of freedoms (wars, cold wars, panics, scares, witches)<BR/>We want to believe that the powers that be have our best interest at heart, so we suspend our disbelief of the grandeur of their lies. It's like Weapons of Mass Destruction only set in ManhattanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-16851870730178879232008-11-22T15:44:00.000-08:002008-11-22T15:44:00.000-08:00Could our future Treasury Sec. be implicated in th...Could our future Treasury Sec. be implicated in this?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-20699575924374992462008-11-22T13:33:00.000-08:002008-11-22T13:33:00.000-08:00If the American peasants don't care, nothing will ...If the American peasants don't care, nothing will be done. The statistically average American peasant only cares that any "loot" doesn't go to "those welfare queens". Any "loot" going to the American peasant's nobility is - in most case - excused or forgotten about after the next Stupendious Bowl.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-71781720988298066442008-11-22T12:39:00.000-08:002008-11-22T12:39:00.000-08:00RKORAS:I don't think there is a plan to "bust-out"...RKORAS:<BR/>I don't think there is a plan to "bust-out" AIG as such. It seems to have evolved from the desire to protect some creditors at the expense of others. Many bust-outs don't start with the intention of being bust-outs, they evolve into them for various reasons.<BR/>For example, a legitimate business may have operated for years. Suddenly for whatever reasons, it faces a downturn. Now the owner can just go bankrupt, or take the company's assets prior to bankruptcy. Even though he never set out to defraud anyone, he rationalizes, "I was trying to make the best of a bad situation". Similarly here. I am sure AIG's counterparties would rather not have called on their CDSs. So? Now they find AIG can't make good. What to do? Take a multi-billion dollar "hickie" or finagle and give the "hickie" to someone else? In this instance, the CDS holders have no fear of: the SEC or the Justice Department. <BR/>In the two miniscule cases I cited, credit ratings and worldwide customer exposure weren't issues. So? Even if they were, what of it? I think the plan is: keep AIG afloat as long as possible to ensure the CDS counterparties get paid and let the devil take the hindmost.Independent Accountanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07800220849565219709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-78735337396133418802008-11-22T10:53:00.000-08:002008-11-22T10:53:00.000-08:00Great article and thoughts! The cases you pose as ...Great article and thoughts! The cases you pose as presidence are not as large as AIG and took place in an economic environment that was closer to 'all other things being equal'. Also AIGs asset value problems triggered credit rating problems that can hurt any insurer, I don't think credit ratings and world wide customers exposure were issues of the cases you listed. Also, unless the plan to bust out was hatched within the last year or so, why would people who wanted to bust out AIG expose themselves to customers and nations all over the world. That exposure would increase the chances of getting caught. <BR/><BR/><BR/>But I think the original plan by Paulson, which was about 3 pages and gave many people protection from many legal actions, does lend itself to the fact that Paulson & Co. may not know exactly what they are doing (its a once and a lifetime event), but they may know what and who is respondsible for this crisis and what and who aided in covering it up until this year.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-91428623615673263462008-11-22T10:06:00.000-08:002008-11-22T10:06:00.000-08:00Anonymous1 = Happy/ACurious about Dinallo in the s...Anonymous1 = Happy/A<BR/><BR/>Curious about Dinallo in the scenario that you sketch out... who I think is a total tool... I cringe every time I see him rappin some jive to Congress or the media...<BR/><BR/>Who is he protecting? The citizens of New York state? Ha!<BR/><BR/>"Saving" the bond insurers was a hand job for Wall Street... that "blew up"...<BR/><BR/>Happy/AAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-33787002976157508792008-11-22T08:42:00.000-08:002008-11-22T08:42:00.000-08:00Anonymous 1:The only way I could know if I was rig...Anonymous 1:<BR/>The only way I could know if I was right was to see if and when AIG became insolvent and if there were any recent changes in the relative positions of the creditors. However, I've been suspicious even since about 14 September when NYS Insurance Commissioner Eric Dinallo let the AIG insurance subs upstream $20 billion to the parent? Why? Quo bene?<BR/><BR/>Anonymous 2:<BR/>Yes, see my 19 October 2008 post, "Dollar Si, Krona No". Paulson & Co. may be taking us on a trip, not down the yellow brick road, but to "dog hill".<BR/><BR/>Anonymous 3:<BR/>I don't think they're going anywhere. Too brazen.Independent Accountanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07800220849565219709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-86055523272275615582008-11-22T04:25:00.000-08:002008-11-22T04:25:00.000-08:00Well they just copied the Taiwanese game plan, loo...Well they just copied the Taiwanese game plan, loot and scoot.<BR/><BR/>SkippyAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-76732569794506666892008-11-22T02:49:00.000-08:002008-11-22T02:49:00.000-08:00Kind of like Mexico back in 1982, when outgoing Pr...Kind of like Mexico back in 1982, when outgoing President Jose Lopez-Portillo, as his last act, nationalized the banks in what some say was a successful attempt to conceal his theft of several billion dollars from the national oil company.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-61856663540312667742008-11-21T22:11:00.000-08:002008-11-21T22:11:00.000-08:00Anonymous:There are two possbilities here. One, P...Anonymous:<BR/>There are two possbilities here. One, Paulson & Co. don't know what they are doing. Two, they know exactly what they are doing.Independent Accountanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07800220849565219709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2611021408437270881.post-38826535819257491092008-11-21T18:32:00.000-08:002008-11-21T18:32:00.000-08:00Shivers IA... shivers.If you're right this is a bi...Shivers IA... shivers.<BR/><BR/>If you're right this is a big one.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com