Oh how I have found something interesting today...
I am currently watching a UEFA Champions League Soccer match that is taking place in England.
Manchester United is playing Villarreal. Manchester is probably the team I like the most.
This in it's self is not all that interesting I must admit. What is interesting is the financial markets.
I know I know...you are wondering what in the world do the financial markets have to do with a soccer team in England.
Here's what it has to do with it. Manchester United's main sponsor is AIG Financial. If you have been watching the news as of late then you know that there is a mess going on with AIG.
History of what is going on with AIG
To give a brief run down of why they are in dire straights...here goes...AIG loans money, the United States has a law from the depression era saying they must have a certain percentage of cash on hand for all the investments. They had given loans for homes and these "loans" are considered liquid assets. Home prices have dropped since they handed out the loans...there for they are not able to sell them as much as they would have. Therefore in theory they do not have that percentage of cash on hand to that the government requires and the government took them over. Whats sad is if they could just ride this out, they would be just fine a couple years from now.
Yesterday, the US government bailed AIG out of the mess. They bought the company basically.
Back to soccer....
Since AIG owns the largest share of the Manchester United Football Club....The United States now owns the Manchester United Football Club kinda sorta...
USA USA USA...wait...this is bad...when did the government get in the business of sponsoring a soccer team in another country?
The picture below is a picture of London during World War II. The picture surprised me. I did not expect that many vehicles on the streets during war time England. And yes this is the picture for this post. Sorry nothing funny...next time perhaps.
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