Dear A.I.G.,

We make ironing boards here in Indiana for piecework pay and are interested in some insurance for counterparty risk. As the last maker of ironing boards in the US operating under tariffs that protect us from competition in China, we would like to buy insurance for tariff default swaps should free trader politicians cancel the tariffs.

As a fellow protectionist and socialist comrade we know you can also provide us with a stimulus default swap policy against the coming depression.

Your economic survival in these times speaks to the bedrock American values on which capitalism was founded. Without you, we probably wouldn't be making ironing boards, we'd be in a manufacturing plant somewhere making $75k/year.

Regards,

Chief Piecework and Productivity Counter of Inputs per Unit of Output, Ironing Boards USA

i love how every time an interviewee is cornered about the 100 cents on the dollar, they all say a variation of: if we didn't, it would have been a catastrophic, doomsday, armageddon, nuclear, (fill in your own scary, deflective scenario here)...

Even though I have grown to despise Goldman Sachs and their likes, you really have to admire their ability to always be on the winning side of the game. Wall Street is just a rigged casino, and Goldman (and like companies) are running it. At least it has become obvious these past few years. The question now is where does the average investor invest? And with whom?

"Hope the benign outcome helped offset any aggravation." emailed Mr. Checki to a UBS executive.

Benign? For whom?

Hospital Administrator wrote, The question now is where does the average investor invest? And with whom?

But more than just the average investor suffers by the parasitic activity of Wall St. They're sucking out a good chunk of GDP, and it comes from all of us.