Taxpayers unlikely to be fully repaid in AIG mess

By STEVENSON JACOBS, IEVA M. AUGSTUMS and DANIEL WAGNER
Associated Press

Pressure is mounting on the government to revise its bailout of AIG to ensure that taxpayers are repaid as much as possible of the $170 billion lent to the troubled insurer.

Experts warn we shouldn't expect to get much back.

The problem stems from AIG's obligations to its trading partners. So far, the hobbled insurance giant has honored in full its contracts with U.S. and foreign banks. It's paid out more than $90 billion in taxpayer money to keep some of the biggest names in finance from losing money on bad bets linked to subprime mortgages and other risky assets.

As the cost of the rescue swells, experts says it's becoming harder to envision a scenario in which the government could recoup its full investment. Even though the AIG payouts to major banks have angered critics of the bailout, it might be legally impossible to claw back any of the billions already doled out.

"A contract is a contract," said Russell Walker, a risk management professor at Northwestern University. "That money all went to people who bought protection from AIG."

(More here.)