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Well, let's start with the FACT (in other words, its not open for debate) that the insurance industry is not on the verge of collapse, despite AIG's issues. Their issues were very separate from the insurance operation, and they were never in a position where they would have stopped paying claims or writing new business. No other large stock carrier is in similar trouble, so the insurance industry is the same as it ever was.
What confuses me is why people think that this crisis is moving off of Wall Street and on to Main Street. The overall economy is mixed, but several of the major indicators are positive. I know that the credit market needs help since its the basis for everything else, but that doesn't mean that we're going to see small businesses closing at a higher rate or dogs and cats living together. IF AIG had failed, the component parts would have kept functioning and would have survived elsewhere (although not together). As of now, there is little impact on Middle America.
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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." - B. Franklin
"There ought to be limits to freedom." - George W. Bush
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo
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