AIG 1st-quarter loss narrows to $4.35 billion

Insurance agency AIG reported that it’s losses for the first quarter of 2009 were drastically smaller than those record setting losses they posted in the fourth quarter of last year. This quarter AIG posted a loss of 4.35 billion, this was much better than the 61.7 billion they lost in the fourth quarter of 2008. AIG has received nearly 180 Billion dollars in loans from the federal government in order to stay business. In exchange for the funds, the federal government now has control of approximately 80 percent of the firm.

The improvements made by AIG are just further evidence that the recession may becoming to an end, but that we aren’t out of the woods yet. Also proven by AIG’s reports is that we can now assume the government is going to attempt to be more involved in working with the banking and insurance agencies.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090507/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_aig

Obama touts $17 billion 'lot of money' budget cuts

President Barack Obama has proposed cutting funding to or completely eliminating 121 federal programs in order to rein in spending by the federal government. Obama compared the cutting of programs to the belt tightening most Americans are doing. President Obama has claimed that his proposed cuts will save approximately 17 Billion dollars.

Republicans have pounced on these proposed cuts by saying they are not nearly enough. A few of the proposed cuts include: tax breaks for oil and gas companies, cutting more then half the benefits for family members of slain police officers. Another proposal is to increase the air fare taxes starting in 2012.

It still remains to be seen how much of an impact these cuts will have on reducing the federal budget. I agree with his decision to start removing tax breaks from larger oil and gas industries; however, I don’t feel raising taxes on airlines or any form of transportation is the best way to raise capital when Americans are already unwilling to travel due to economic constraints.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090507/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_budget

Stress tests find 10 big banks need $75B more

On Thursday, The United States received the eagerly anticipated “stress test” results from 19 of the largest banks in the United States. The findings showed that 10 of the largest banks still need approximately 75 billion dollars to withstand losses if the recession were to take a turn for the worse. The results did show that just like the rest of the U.S. Economy, there is improvement across the board. However, we are not out of the clear yet. Among the 10 banks that could possibly ask more funding are Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley.

I find the news from this article to be uplifting, and that makes me very optimistic about the health of the banks because some of the banks are no longer requiring additional federal funds, and that the continued support of these banks by the federal government shows that these banks will not fail.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090507/ap_on_bi_ge/us_banks_stress_tests;_ylt=Aqn8GiZcAp7NgUiXX6OCX2ms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTJtNTAxZW12BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwNTA3L3VzX2JhbmtzX3N0cmVzc190ZXN0cwRjcG9zAzEEcG9zAzMEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDZnVsbG5ic3BzdG9y