Video – Tim Russert’s Last Interview on Fox – “Legend’s Last Interview”

VIDEOS: “A Legends Last Interview” –

http://www.foxnews.com/hannityandcolmes/index.html

Federal Reserve Announces $85B Loan to Bail Out AIG

FOX News

WASHINGTON  —  In a bid to save financial markets and economy from further turmoil, the U.S. government agreed Tuesday to provide an $85 billion emergency loan to rescue the huge insurer AIG.

The Federal Reserve said in a statement it determined that a disorderly failure of AIG could hurt the already delicate financial markets and the economy.

It also could “lead to substantially higher borrowing costs, reduced household wealth and materially weaker economic performance,” the Fed said.

“The President supports the agreement announced this evening by the Federal Reserve,” said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. “These steps are taken in the interest of promoting stability in financial markets and limiting damage to the broader economy.”

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the administration was working closely with the Fed, the Securities and Exchange Commission and other government regulators to “enhance the stability and orderliness of our financial markets and minimize the disruption to our economy.”

“I support the steps taken by the Federal Reserve tonight to assist AIG in continuing to meet its obligations, mitigate broader disruptions and at the same time protect taxpayers,” Paulson said in a statement.

The Fed said in return for the loan, the government will receive a 79.9 percent equity stake in AIG.

Earlier, Fed chairman Bernanke and Paulson met with Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio, to brief them on the government’s option.

“At the administration’s request, I met this evening with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. They expressed the administration’s views on the deepening economic turmoil and shared with us their latest proposals regarding AIG,” Reid told reporters. “The Treasury and the Fed have promised to provide more details in the near future, which I believe must address the broader, underlying structural issues in the financial markets.”

On Tuesday, shares of the insurance company swung violently as rumors of potential deals involving the government or private parties emerged and were dashed. By late Tuesday, its shares had closed down 20 percent — and another 45 percent after hours. Still, no deal emerged.

The problems at AIG stemmed from its insurance of mortgage-backed securities and other risky debt against default. If AIG couldn’t make good on its promise to pay back soured debt, investors feared the consequences would pose a greater threat to the U.S. financial system than this week’s collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers.***

The worries were triggered after Moody’s Investor Service and Standard and Poor’s lowered AIG’s credit ratings, forcing AIG to seek more money for collateral against its insurance contracts. Without that money, AIG would have defaulted on its obligations and the buyers of its insurance — such as banks and other financial companies — would have found themselves without protection against losses on the debt they hold.

“It might not just bring down other financial institutions in the U.S. It could bring down overseas financial institutions,” said Timothy Canova, a professor of international economic law at Chapman University School of Law. “If Lehman Brother’s failure could help trigger AIG’s going down, who knows who AIG’s failure could trigger next.”

New York-based AIG operates an insurance and financial services businesses ranging from property, casualty, auto and life insurance to annuity and investment services. Those traditional insurance operations are considered healthy and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said “they are solvent and have the capability to pay claims.”

The Democrats must admit what the real problem is before it can be fixed – a “poor economy” did not cause this problem – reckless lending caused a “poor economy”

*** LIAR & NINJA LOANS

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,423785,00.html

The Economy & AIG (American International Group) – How Sour Mortgage Loans Hurt AIG

WASHINGTON  —  In a bid to save financial markets and economy from further turmoil, the U.S. government agreed Tuesday to provide an $85 billion emergency loan to rescue the huge insurer AIG.

Just how did AIG, the world’s largest insurance company, get into this position?

AIG, which is financially stable, is suffering from a “cash flow crisis”.

That cash flow crisis is related to AIG’s insurance of mortgage backed securities. AIG wrote insurance policies to cover a portion of the financial losses on thousands of “Liar” and ‘NINJA” Loans. 

To read more about these loans:

https://mcauleysworld.wordpress.com/2008/09/15/the-financial-services-housing-crisis-how-did-we-get-here/

https://mcauleysworld.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/senator-cornyn-seeks-criminal-inquiry-of-fannie-freddie-executives/

https://mcauleysworld.wordpress.com/2008/09/08/the-truth-about-fannie-mae-and-freddie-mac-900-billion-in-corrupt-lending-practices/

Politicians who claim that AIG’s difficulties are due to a “bad economy” are putting the “horse before the cart”. The reckless use of NINJA & Liar Loans have caused substantial damager to the economy. In short America is overleveraged – America has taken on more debt than it can afford – the security to support that debt (example: property values) was over evaluated.  

America must “tighten it’s buckle.”

The Government must reform oversight and eliminate ineffective bureaucracy, cut taxes and foster an environment of growth. Developing all available energy sources will not only reduce costs and spur economic growth, it will also strengthen American security by ending dependence on foreign energy sources.

VIDEO: MSNBC’s DECEITFUL EDITING; CARLY FIORINA COMMENTS CUT BY OBAMA STAFF FOR AD

FOX NEWS

Barack Obama’s campaign was “deceitful” when it clipped part of an interview in which Republican Victory 2008 Chairwoman Carly Fiorina said John McCain was not qualified to be the head of a corporation, Fiorina said Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, appeared on MSNBC, where she said none of the candidates is qualified to run a major corporation, but that should not prevent them from running the country.

“I don’t think John McCain could run a major corporation. I don’t think Barack Obama could run a major corporation. I don’t think Joe Biden could run a major corporation. But on the other hand a major corporation is not the same as being the president or vice president of the United States,” Fiorina said.

“It is a fallacy to suggest that the country is like a company. So of course to run a business you have to have a lifetime of experience in business, but that’s not what Sarah Palin, John McCain, Joe Biden or Barack Obama are doing,” she said.

But the Obama campaign, in an e-mail linking to a YouTube video of Fiorina’s statement that was clipped after the first sentence, berated McCain for not winning the trust of even his own supporters.

“When John McCain’s top economic adviser doesn’t think that he’s qualified to run a corporation — how on Earth can he run the largest economy in the world in the midst of a financial crisis?” Obama spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement accompanying the shortened clip.

“Apparently even the people who run his campaign agree that the economy is an issue that John McCain doesn’t understand as well as he should. Senator Obama has been ahead of the curve trying to prevent this crisis and he’s called for new rules of the road to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.”

Fiorina lashed back at the suggestion she doesn’t trust McCain and said Obama is the least qualified of any of the candidates to run the country.

“I think this is a pattern of the Obama campaign. What they did was deceitful. They literally cut words off,” Fiorina told FOX News.

“Secondly, they are sort of flooding the zone with nonsense. Look, different experiences prepare you for different jobs. Sarah Palin and John McCain are uniquely experienced to be the president and vice president of the United States. Barack Obama is the least qualified candidate running today in terms of his executive experience, in terms of his time in public office. So I think the Obama campaign would do very well to stop hurling the experience argument, because their candidate for president has less than any one else for office right now on these two tickets,” she said.

Click here to see the entire clip of Carly Fiorina.

Click here to see the clip released by the Obama camp.

IS THIS THE CHANGE HE EXPECTS US TO BELIEVE IN?

http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/09/16/fiorina-obama-camp-deceitful-in-clipping-my-quote/

VIDEO – John McCain “Tortured By His Captors” (A Parody of THE VIEW) The Tonight Show with Jay Leno

SEE THE VIDEO HERE

http://www.nbc.com/The_Tonight_Show_with_Jay_Leno/video/clips/monologue-915/661221/