NU Online News Service, April 14, 3:47 p.m. EDT
President Barack Obama said the bailout of American International Group was necessary to prevent an economic meltdown of the financial system but added he shared the exasperation many feel over the move.
"Because [AIG] chose to insure billions of dollars of risky assets, essentially creating a hedge fund on top of an insurance company, its failure could threaten the entire financial system and freeze lending even more," said the president. "And that's why, as frustrating as it is–and I promise you, nobody is more frustrated than me with AIG, I promise–we had to provide support for AIG, because the entire system, as fragile as it is, could be profoundly endangered if AIG went into a liquidation bankruptcy."
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