“The biggest fears had to do with the credit-default swaps, which AIG appears to have sold in large quantities to practically every financial institution of significance on the planet. RBC Capital Markets analyst Hank Calenti estimated Tuesday that AIG's failure would cost its swap counterparties $180 billion. "Its collapse would be as close to an extinction-level event as the financial markets have seen since the Great Depression," wrote money manager Michael Lewitt in Tuesday morning's New York Times.” Time, September 17, 2008
“’I am floored,’ said former Treasury counsel Peter Wallison in an interview. ‘No one could have possibly imagined this a few months ago.’” Bloomberg, September 17, 2008