Now I own AIG...

I woke up this morning to discover that I am the proud owner of an insurance company. I do not recall ever wanting to own an insurance company. For that matter, I do not recall wanting to own a brokerage house or even a mortgage company, but I find that, along with several million of my closest friends, I own them.

Now, I suppose there are some advantages to preventing the financial markets from melting completely but is this the best way to do it? And what happens with these firms next? Does the Federal Government become and insurance company "on the side?" Would this mean that every month, I could elect to have my mortgage, insurance and other bills (especially if this is a new trend in Federal direction) deducted directly from my paycheque as a routine tax deduction like FICA and income tax? Could I have it done in pretext dollars just to make filling in my income tax forms at the end of the year? Maybe this is a good thing. But I do not believe it.