AIG On The Ropes, Gets Pulled Back From The Edge

I was doing a little reading on this subject, yr lordship, and here's what I found. Let's say that Shanahan the mechanic and Gallagher the carter have themselves what you would call a little side bet. Shanahan agrees to give Gallagher a bit of his paycheck iviry Friday over t' Dooley's saloon fer the benefit of Gallagher's poor impoverished relatives in the ould sod, the sort that are known as investors, who have advanced their pennies to Gallagher for divers purposes. While this is going on, Gallagher and Shanahan are watching the representations of McFadden the man from the brewery, O'Reilly the meter reader from th' gas works, and Wong Sun from th' laundry what does the linens for Dooley's foine establishment. If it appears that Dooley has stopped paying his bills, Gallagher delivers the keys to his car and his house to Shanahan in fee simple absolute to the eternal discouragement of his wife and young 'uns. And that, yr honor, is the story of AIG and credit default swaps and why they're in the news these days. Oh, the fellers over at Lehman's Dry Goods? A lad named Orwell stopped by for a Guiness and he remarked as how all animals were equal only some are more equal than others, which means that maybe Gallagher and Shanahan knew more than Dooley gave 'em credit for. With apologies to Finley Peter Dunne.