AIG Pleads for Time

Some lucky bailout recipients, like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase, are anxious to repay TARP funds. American International Group is not one of them: Speaking before Congress on Wednesday, Chairman Edward Liddy—recruited by the government to run the company last September—estimated that it would take three to five years to completely overhaul the insurance giant and pay back the taxpayers. So far, the company has received more than $170 billion from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, The New York Times reports. Liddy said AIG would repay the money in part by selling many of its subsidiaries. He also addressed executive bonuses, saying he and his fellow execs were “well aware” of the controversy. The chairman of the oversight committee keeping an eye on AIG complained during the hearing of “a shroud of secrecy” obscuring the company’s collapse and subsequent bailout.