Word: summings
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...sum total of the value of all of the office buildings, monuments, military hardware, and laboratories that the federal government owns must stretch well into the hundreds of billions of dollars. What billionaire would not want to own the U.S. embassy in London? (Read a TIME story on the U.S. embassy...
...take a moment to review how AIG made money and why it's now losing so much. Most of AIG's losses have been attributed to its failing positions in credit-default swaps (CDSs). Essentially, AIG is swapping cash flows with other institutions: those banks pay AIG a small sum on a regular basis, and then under certain conditions - like mass foreclosure or corporations' defaulting on their loans - AIG pays out a large sum. In other words, AIG sold insurance; its problem is that it is paying out too much...
...insurance on the house; on the other side are insurance companies and the like making an opposite bet. If the house is destroyed, one group of institutions wins and the other group loses. Considering all institutions together, no money was truly lost - it's what economists call a zero-sum game. In good times, risk-hungry banks loved this game, but now they have become risk-averse, and the game seems to have changed. So how can many of the banks simultaneously claim enormous swap losses without a single bank claiming significant profit...
Here are two possibilities: either the vast majority of all swaps - not just AIG's - are held by investment banks, or a significant portion is held by other financial institutions like hedge funds. Suppose all swaps are held by banks. Since swaps are a zero-sum game, the banking industry as a whole cannot lose money on swaps. Then there is no need for a bailout. (See 25 people to blame for the financial crisis...
Slumdog director Boyle and the film's producer, Christian Colson, have said that resources will be made available to pay for Rubiana's and Azhar's education until they turn 18. A "substantial lump sum" as well as housing will also be given to the children when they complete their studies. The producers have also arranged for a rickshaw to take the children to a nonprofit English-language school, Asheema, for the next eight years, just to make sure they attend. Already there are signs of new affluence in the kids' slum dwellings. Rubiana's house was reportedly fitted with...