October 05, 2010
That’s what readers of Andrew Ross Sorkin’s column on AIG are all asking, but arithmetic and Mr. Sorkin are rarely found in the same room. Of course the real story of AIG and the other bailouts is that the government used its credit to keep the company, and more importantly its creditors and top executives in business.
Sorkin apparently assumes his readers do not understand that below market loans and guarantees have enormous value. Of course if the government had made the same commitments to the owner of a corner hot-dog stand as it did to AIG, this person would be as rich as Bill Gates right now. Mr. Sorkin could then write a column about how the loans and guarantees didn’t cost the government anything (since the hot-dog stand owner had repaid them), but NYT readers know better.
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