美國環球保險公司的倒塌

Abstract

二零零八年九月，自由市場的機制、企業全球化、停滯的薪資、貪婪、過度舉債、以及金融創新已經完全爆炸造成金融衰退。國際清算銀行早在一年前就發佈警告，稱這幾年寬鬆的金融政策會釀造巨大的信用泡沫。如今經濟合作暨發展組織國家的金融市場的狀況降到最低，且美國政府於金融市場做了自從一九三零年以來最大的干涉。美國財政部介入拯救房貸巨頭「美國聯邦國民抵押貸款協會」（Fannie Mae）及「美國聯邦住宅貸款抵押公司」（Freddie Mac），國營化提出紓困方案，為規模高達數兆美元的美國房貸市場帶來及時雨。接著美國財政部又財政救援美國最大的保險公司。 美國金融機構的景色已經銳變，從事高度槓桿融資的的華爾街投資銀行已面臨絕種。雷曼兄弟破產、貝爾斯登及美林證劵公司被商業銀行購併、高盛及摩根史丹利改變形式成為商業銀行。現在看來，就是這些「影子銀行體系」藉由大量槓桿(leveraged mortgage)所創出來的「證券化商品」(securitization)闖出大禍，並重創全球金融市場，把全球金融市場搞得天昏地暗，其中最具代表性的首推由「影子銀行體系」所創出來的次貸 (sub-prime) 商品，它是推升了美國房地產飆漲了五年以上的重要推手，但也是這一波毀滅美國房地產市場的原兇。 本研究會針對保險巨頭美國環球保險公司為何會在這金融風暴當中嚴重受傷。美國環球保險公司跟這次的金融風暴有什麼重大關連？據了解，美國環球保險公司是被歐洲一個金融部門所銷售的金融衍生性商品拖垮的。那為何美國政府必須幫歐洲收拾爛攤子？

In the fall of 2008, a little more than a year after the Bank for International Set¬tlements (a Switzerland-based organiza¬tion that fosters cooperation between central banks) warned that “years of loose monetary policy have fuelled a giant credit bubble, leav¬ing us vulnerable to another 1930s slump,” the ignitable intention of free market funda¬mentalism, corporate-dominated globalization, stagnant wages, growing inequality, greed, ex¬cessive leverage, and financial innovations such as securitization finally exploded. Financial market conditions in the OECD countries sunk to their lowest levels in more than half a century, and the U.S. government made its most dramatic interventions in finan¬cial markets since the 1930s. The Federal Re¬serve and the Treasury nationalized the country’s two mortgage giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; bailed out AIG, the world’s larg¬est insurance company; and, in effect, extend¬ed government deposit insurance to $3.4 trillion in money market funds. The landscape of American finance has radically changed. The independent invest¬ment bank, a Wall Street animal that relied on high leverage, is now extinct. Lehman Broth¬ers has gone bust, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch have been swallowed by commercial banks, and Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley have become commercial banks them¬selves. The “shadow banking system”—the se¬curities dealers, hedge funds, and other non-bank financial institutions that defined deregulated American finance—is unraveling. In this research, we are going to focus on why the leading insurance giant like AIG would suffer disastrously in this economic crisis. The financial crisis seemed like a domino effect. What has AIG got to do with the other financial institutions? But why should U.S government settle the shambles caused by Europe?