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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
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AIG Bailout Has Failed: Greenberg

Government should focus on reducing stake, restructuring firm, former CEO says

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(Newser) – AIG’s former CEO told Congress today the bailout of the insurance firm has “failed” and that the government should restructure the company, the Wall Street Journal reports. At a House committee hearing, Hank Greenberg said he blamed his successors for the firm’s implosion: "I think they got greedy. I think they wrote considerably more business than they should have."

Greenberg brought Congress a 10-point plan for fixing AIG, focusing on splitting off the financial products division—the source of the “toxic assets” that have bedeviled the firm—from AIG proper and reducing taxpayers’ stake in the firm to a target of 15%. Efforts to liquidate should be abandoned because “fire-sale prices will bring taxpayers, who now own almost 80% of AIG, only pennies on the dollar for their investment,” Greenberg argued.

House Oversight Committee member Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa. questions former AIG head Hank Greenberg, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2009, during the committee's hearing.
House Oversight Committee member Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa. questions former AIG head Hank Greenberg, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2009, during the committee's hearing.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Former AIG head Hank Greenberg testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2009, before the House Oversight Committee.
Former AIG head Hank Greenberg testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2009, before the House Oversight Committee.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
The hands and pen of former AIG head Hank Greenberg are seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2009, as he testified before the House Oversight Committee.
The hands and pen of former AIG head Hank Greenberg are seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2009, as he testified before the House Oversight Committee.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
Former AIG head Hank Greenberg testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2009, before the House Oversight Committee.
Former AIG head Hank Greenberg testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, April 2, 2009, before the House Oversight Committee.   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)
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2 comments
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justme
Apr 2, 09 1:44 PM CDT
So where was braniac when the company was imploding? Reply
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SPH
Apr 2, 09 2:17 PM CDT
He was forced to resign in 2006 (I think)....
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