32. American Insurance Group (AIG)
Year: 2007-2008
Approx. Amount: $180 billion*
Company / Person Involved: AIG
AIG was one of the beneficiaries of the bailout in 2008. The company was considered “too big to fail,” but that doesn’t mean it was too big to be foolish. The insurance giant was among quite a few companies that gambled on peoples’ collateralized debt obligations. AIG was also one of many who lost that gamble, falling to pieces and leaving nothing but wreckage in its wake.
American Insurance Group (AIG) ©Evan El-Amin / Shutterstock.com
AIG had to repay a huge debt to U.S. taxpayers, who were irritated that they had to bail out a company full of million-dollar executives while they, the people, lost their homes and businesses. The total bailout for AIG was $180 billion, courtesy of the Federal Reserve.