AIG, American International Group, a DOW component I’d never heard of until it’s former CEO, Bush Pioneer Maurice R Greenberg made headlines in 2005 when the company was caught in some Enron-like accounting schenanigans to the tune of $1.7 Billion — which also implicated Warren Buffet.  The scandal was quietly ignored by the SEC and Justice Department as Mr. Greenberg went off to run the Nixon Institute (no, really).

Essentially AIG’s main business is NOT selling insurance policies for your home or life, although they do dabble in the retail market.  It’s bread and butter — and what makes it so important to the foundation of our economy — is selling RE-insurance policies to other insurance companies that sell life and casualty to us. (It also sells “terrorism” insurance.)  If there’s anything close to a central insurance company, this is it.  Only fitting that the Fed is about to take AIG over.  (Update: It’s a done deal.)

In the course of just a couple of weeks, you the the fine citizens of this Teh Awesum country, without so much as an executive order, judicial fiat or act of Congress, just on the say so of the Masters of the Universe will now own control of the entire insurance sector through this giant takeover on top of the bulk of all the nation’s mortgages (real ones, not just the sub-prime nonsense) with FHFA’s conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 

The magical powers of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are stunning.

No debate.  No hand wringing, demagoguery or finger-pointing shouts of “Commie Plot!” greeted this news.  After all, it was accomplished under the benign guidance of His Supreme Exalted Prince of Shrubness. (Where the heck was Bushie during all this? Oh yeah, checking out the prospects of picking up some cheap beachfront property in Galveston.  Nevermind.  I’m sure he’s got ice trucks and stuff to get in the way of and other heckuvajobin’ to do.)

So I got this crazy idea, see.  Instead of taking over industries the public would just as soon not really own and nobody else would buy — why not take over some profitable industries that the people would benefit from and are profitable enough to help out with the deficit?  If it’s really that easy to simply nationalize trillions of dollars worth of our gross domestic product, why are we even debating universal health care or putting up with the oil companies ruling our world.

Put Paulson on the job!  At this rate, I should have new glasses by Friday.

Fuck it, let’s go get some more stuff, good stuff this time while we’re at it.  I’d like me a piece of AT&T and that Microsoft thingy too — unless John McCain already has a prior claim since he invented all technology since chiseling out the first wheel.