redwards -- or even better -- to collect fees of what, a percent per year of the risk assumed, write payment insurance on a few hundred billion of debt securities -- e.g.: How AIG Fell Apart The dastardly deeds of the credit default swap. September 18, 2008 http://www.thebigmoney.com/articles/explainer/2008/09/18/how-aig-fell-apart?page=full Credit Default Swaps, the Collapse of AIG and Addressing the Crisis of Confidence October 11, 2008 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-paul/credit-default-swaps-the_b_133891.html (more via http://www.google.com/webhp?rls=ig#hl=en&rls=ig&q=aig+%22credit+default+swaps%22 )