not to call it that, because if it were insurance, it would be regulated. aig essentially facilitated the creation of a lot of these mortgage securities by essentially providing an insurance policy should they go bad. but because the derivatives market had been deregulated, aig could do this without any requirement to put up any reserves. it s like an insurance company selling you a life insurance policy and not having any money when the time came to pay off. and the time came to pay off. after its credit rating was ra downgraded overnight, aig must raise at least $40 billion and fast. you had a full-scale run on aig. and there was a real view, by the way, that if aig went under, the game was over. aig does business with every major financial institution and in 130 countries. aig will destroy much of the capital formation process in the
insurance, it would be regulated. aig essentially facilitated a lot of the mortgage securities by essentially providing an insurance policy should they go bad. but because the derivatives market had been deregulated, aig could do this without any requirement to put up reserves. it s like an insurance company selling you a life insurance policy and not having money when the time came to pay off. and the time came to pay off. aig must raise at least $40 billion and fast. you had a full-scale run on aig. and there was a real view, by the way, that if aig went under, the game was over. aig does business with every major financial institution and in 130 countries. aig will destroy much of the capital formation process in the western world. paulson, bernanke, tim