From Bloomberg…

Dec. 23 (Bloomberg) — American International Group Inc.’s first sale of an entire insurance unit since its $150 billion bailout signals the company’s divestiture plan may not raise enough money to settle its debts with the U.S. government.

AIG, which is auctioning about 70 percent of the company to repay a $60 billion federal loan, agreed yesterday to sell Hartford Steam Boiler, an insurer of factories and power plants, to Munich Re for $742 million. That’s about a third less than the New York-based firm paid for the unit eight years ago.

“If that is at all representative of the market opportunities out there, the value of a lot of other things AIG is selling will be fairly discounted,” said Gary Ransom, an analyst at Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller. “It’s bad news for the American taxpayer.”

(emphasis added)

Full article

Over the past few months we have heard from the likes of Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke that the ‘bailouts’ will in the end be a ‘win win’ for the tax payers. I did not agree with those statements then… and I still don’t today.

The tax payers will be left holding the bag for much of the ‘bail outs’ in the end. Remember that Hank Paulson was telling the American people just this past May that he projected the economy would add 500,000 jobs in 2008!

On Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson told Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s “The Situation Room” that the economic stimulus checks currently being cut by the IRS will pump $50 billion into the U.S. economy in May, and another “$50 billion plus in June.” The payments will create “at least 500,000 additional jobs,” he said.

Well, we know how well that worked out.

It is an amazingly funny (and extremely scary) situation that those who were the last to acknowledge the problems of this disaster are the same ones saying how good it will be in the future.

As for AIG…  I have nightmares because of companies like YOU.

Market Wrap Up later tonight…