Headline: Fed bails out AIG in $85B deal

This officially sinks the long-held Conservative belief that the god-like “invisible hand” of the market is perfect.  What happened to keeping everything privatized?  Where did all your arguments for smaller government go?  Lying fuckin’ bastards.

Seriously, guys.  $85,000,000,000.00 on this, but we can only spare $59B on education?  Keep the population stupid, is that our plan now?

From the Associated Press:

White House defends takeover of AIG

By BEN FELLER – 33 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House on Wednesday defended the extraordinary federal takeover of sinking insurance giant American International Group Inc., framing it as another move to protect the economy and save people from further harm.

A White House spokeswoman did not rule out further bailouts.

In the most far-reaching intervention into the private sector ever for the Federal Reserve, the government stepped in Tuesday to rescue American International Group Inc. with an $85 billion injection of taxpayer money. The government will get almost an 80 percent stake in the company.

White House press secretary Dana Perino said that given AIG’s scope, the possible failure of the company posed a greater risk than the $85 billion loan. She said that taxpayers would be paid back first, but when asked whether taxpayers may not get their money back at all, she said, “That is true.”

“You have a government that is willing to lead, act where appropriate, and govern to make sure that we limit broader financial harm to the economy,” she said.

President Bush approved the loan for AIG at the White House on Tuesday after being presented with a recommendation from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during a meeting of economic advisers.

Perino said she understands why Americans would be confused that the government would be willing to put taxpayer money at risk for some companies and not others. “We are dealing with very challenging times,” she said, indicating that additional help to unstable companies will be determined on a case-by-case basis.

Perino said that according to the nation’s top economic officials, the U.S. economy has the strength to “deal with these shocks.”

Guess it’s okay to help the rich when the market is in trouble, but fuck you if you think about raising taxes to help the poor.  Lost your house?  That’s your fault.  You shouldn’t have taken that high-risk loan we hid by calling it “sub-prime.”  We’re not bailing you out of this, even though it was the market’s irresponsible loaning which caused it all.  Lost your pension?  Fuck you, the CEOs of that company deserve a 30-million-dollar golden parachute while you starve.

You’re on your own.  Instead, let’s spend everyone else’s money bailing out our fellow billionaires.  Jesus Christ, those guys are just barely scraping by!

How the hell do you people sleep at night?

(Thanks to Mahkno for pointing this out)