> For the same reason the government gave AIG $187 billion, the banks would have figured out how to craft a deal such that to the public it appeared that AIG was a viable financial entity.
Around the same time US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was begging people on his knees for the rescue of Wall Street (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/27/wallstreet.us...) and no-one generally had any idea if the Western financial system as it was right then had much to live. I say that AIG depending on (private) third parties for its rescue would have meant certain bankruptcy.
Around the same time US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson was begging people on his knees for the rescue of Wall Street (http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/27/wallstreet.us...) and no-one generally had any idea if the Western financial system as it was right then had much to live. I say that AIG depending on (private) third parties for its rescue would have meant certain bankruptcy.