When It Comes to AIG, Even Bernanke Has Had Enough
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke opened up about his feelings regarding the continuing bailout of insurance giant AIG -- and he is all kinds of mad.
Jul 31, 2020115.7K Shares2.6M Views
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke opened upabout his feelings regarding the continuing bailout of insurance giant AIG — and he is all kinds of mad. Answering a question today at a Senate Budget Committee hearing, Bernanke said the rescue of AIG has upset him more than any other episode in the financial crisis, Bloombergreports.
“„“If there is a single episode in this entire 18 months that has made me more angry, I can’t think of one other than AIG,” Bernanke said. “AIG exploited a huge gap in the regulatory system, there was no oversight of the financial-products division, this was a hedge fund basically that was attached to a large and stable insurance company.”
Bernanke went on to say that AIG “made huge numbers of irresponsible bets, took huge losses, there was no regulatory oversight because there was a gap in the system,” according to Bloomberg. At the same time, officials “had no choice but to try and stabilize the system” by aiding the firm, Bernanke said.
AIG lost nearly $62 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, the biggest corporate loss in U.S. history.
Nice to know that AIG’s behavior, which has become a symbol of corporate incompetence, even gets under Bernanke’s skin.
Paula M. Graham
Reviewer
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