AIG: I Wanna Be a Producer

Like a lot of people, I have been angered by the audacity of the whole AIG bonuses-for-failed executives thing. I have also been just plain annoyed that financial institutions, that, up until the 1990s, were on the conservative side of dealing with money, would end up needing to be given massive loans.

But I have finally figured out why AIG is in so much trouble. What it boils down to is that they were slicing apart mortgages and reselling the pieces, ending up with something like 300% ownership. But when they had to be paid...

Now, this is probably a simplification of what happened, but suddenly one night a light buplb went off. This is exactly what Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom did in "The Producers" by Mel Brooks! They sold over a hundred percent of their show, and when it was a hit, they were suddenly in trouble for selling more than they could pay.

So you could say that what those well-heeled executives did that almost brought down AIG was a legal form of what sent Bialystock and Bloom to jail.

Or, maybe Leo and Max should never have gone to jail in the first place.