AFAIK, the AIG he's talking about is a small (formerly) Swiss/international private bank (now owned by a company from Abu Dhabi). It's not the US insurance. (Google 'swiss AIG').

From the link in the article ( http://www.aigprivatebank.com/IndexF.cfm?New=1c=4 ) in the footer of that page:

Copyright © 2003 - 2008, AIG Private Bank - A Member of American International Group, Inc.

Edit; It looks like it has been sold to an Abu Dhabi holding company, probably since the book was written, but it was formerly owned by AIG. I'm not sure why their website says they're still owned by AIG. Strangely, for a bank he claims has multiple billionaire clients, it was sold for only $254 million.

"Edit; It looks like it has been sold to an Abu Dhabi holding company, probably since the book was written, but it was formerly owned by AIG. I'm not sure why their website says they're still owned by AIG. Strangely, for a bank he claims has multiple billionaire clients, it was sold for only $254 million."

Not really. Chase has ~800 billion in deposits. You don't see it being valued at $800 billion. That is because every deposit is a liability just like how cash is an asset and most of the cash is loaned out which turns it into more assets. In a well run bank, these assets and liabilities cancel each-other out very closely (wrt banking reserve requirements etc...) and don't factor directly into the value of the bank.

This is a very well informed community. Without coming off sounding like one of those guards from Slumdog Millionaire, may I ask, how do you guys know all this?

This has a pretty good layman's explanation as well as how banks are being affected by the current economic turmoil.

http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=375

In my case, I am actually much more interested in econ. and business. CS is just something I do as well, thus my interest in banking regulation, accounting, and valuations techniques (though I am, by no means, an expert on any of those subjects...).

As it so happens, CS people are much better at computers than economists etc... though there are some excellent econ. blogs on the internet which I enjoy reading.

Its a matter of specialization. I just happen to have banks as on of the things I try to specialize in.

Thanks, that makes more sense now.

Yeah, those are definitely not the best ideas right now, but I would think that he uses AIG the same way we use kleenex to mean tissue. It's the concept there.

Same with Iceland, that may not be the country of choice anymore, but the concept remains the same.

Obviously not ideal, but not a reason to ditch the book. Strauss' writing is entertaining, so I'll probably pick it up for the enjoyment factor :)

    Same with Iceland, that may not be the country
    of choice anymore, but the concept remains the
    same.

One of the subtle things that's going on at the moment is that the safe banking centres are drying up. Switzerland and Luxembourg have been somewhat cleared out by needing bailouts, and Liechtenstein has been shown to be vulnerable to espionage. Iceland is a mess. Islands in the west pacific have been increasingly brought into aid umbrellas over recent decades. The British PM made reference to it in his recent address to both houses in the US.

This is all a serious matter in the west, because it's becoming easier for governments to steal people's money, and to construct justifications for it that make compelling headlines.

I want to echo that. I've been a fan of Strauss' writings for a long time now. I wasn't a fan of Marilyn Manson, but reading about the two years Strauss spent on tour with him was awesome. I never intended to become a PTA, but learning about his movement in the PTA circles as "Style" was awesome. His writing delivers genuine enjoyment.

PTA being...?

I wanted to make a funny remark, but Urban Dictionary is way better:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=pta

BTW I think the original term is PUA = Pick Up Artist:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickup_artist

Yeah, sorry, I did mean PUA for "Pickup Artist".

But since you already corrected it for me, I'll leave it. And give you my upvote, sir.