Luckily for American International Group Inc. (NYSE: AIG), the embattled insurer has agreed to sell its AIG Finance unit to China Construction Bank for $70 million in cash. This news is helping to offset some distinctly less bullish developments for AIG today.

Specifically, Patrick Fitzgerald of Dow Jones Bankruptcy Review reports that Lehman Brothers Holdings (LEHMQ) is asking a bankruptcy judge to force AIG to pony up millions of dollars it owes Lehman for credit default swaps.

Continue reading Will American International Group have to pay Lehman millions?

Will American International Group have to pay Lehman millions? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

How many billions are Paulson and Bernanke asking for? Seven hundred billion dollars. Now that's real money! And the administration is touting this new program as if they knew what they were talking about.

We have heard folks wondering how and why Treasury Secretary Paulson should be given the power and discretion to do as he sees fit with this bailout money.

We have heard people speaking about the pain and the injustice, along with the doubts and reservations about the concept of giving away so much money.

Actually giving this handout to companies that have demonstrated such corrupt thinking and irresponsibility (see SEC opens the gates and the world drowns) is a supreme injustice given that their decisions led to the collapse of once-mighty financial industry titans. See Lehman Bros 158-year sad ending for just one example.

Has anyone asked how the Treasury came up with that number? Can someone explain the difference between $700 billion and a blank check?

Continue reading $700 billion is real money!

$700 billion is real money! originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

The history of Lehman Brothers parallels the growth of the United States and its energetic drive toward prosperity and international prominence. What would evolve into a global financial entity began as a general store in the American South. Henry Lehman, an immigrant from Germany, opened his small shop in the city of Montgomery, Alabama in 1844. Six years later, he was joined by brothers Emanuel and Mayer, and they named the business Lehman Brothers.

Cotton was the cash crop of the time, and the Lehmans accepted it from the local farmers as currency to settle accounts. The brothers traded the cotton for cash or merchandise, becoming brokers for buyers and sellers of the crop. In 1858, they opened an office in New York, which was the commodity trading center of the country.

Continue reading Lehman Bros 158-year sad ending

Lehman Bros 158-year sad ending originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 23 Sep 2008 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.