[dalek_cannes]

A damning indictment from Stockman's The Great Deformation (referenced in the article):

  The paper trail uncovered by congressional investigators shows that the
  $400 billion (notational value) of busted CDS insurance issued by the AIG
  holding company was held by a very small number of the world’s largest fi-
  nancial institutions, and virtually none of it was held by the banks of Main
  Street America which were allegedly being shielded from AIG’s imminent
  collapse. Moreover, the worst-case loss faced by the dozen or so giant in-
  stitutions actually exposed to an AIG bankruptcy would have amounted to
  no more than a few months’ bonus accrual.