Current+Event+5

= Turning natural gas into diesel fuel = By Steve Hargreaves [|@CNNMoney] May 9, 2012: 5:27 AM ET

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Near-record low natural gas prices have hurt the industry, but a technology that can turn cheap gas into more profitable diesel could keep demand high and mitigate the impact of falling costs. A gallon of diesel costs just over $4 a gallon, off the record high of $4.85 hit in 2008. Yet natural gas is around $2.30 per million British thermal units, nearly one-seventh its record of over $15 per million Btu reached in 2008. With [|prices for natural gas] so low, and prices for oil-based fuels so high, the idea of building plants to convert natural gas directly into liquid diesel and jet fuel is something more companies are looking into.

This is the worst idea ever! If people end up using all of the natural gas the prices will rise for all of the prices. If diesel fuel is being used more and more then people will not be able to get any more diesel fuel then its prices will decrease and then all the natural gas will be more scarce and rise. All in all im pretty sure that it wont be effective in any way. Diesel cost more than regular gas, but is easier to refine. Diesel does'nt have to be as clean as gas. But less of the oil is refined to produce diesel. hence higher diesel prices.

= U.S. to make $15 billion profit on AIG bailout = By Aaron Smith [|@CNNMoney] May 8, 2012: 8:37 AM ET NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The U.S. government will make a $15.1 billion profit from the bailout of insurer AIG, according to a congressional watchdog panel's report. The Government Accountability Office said Monday that the size of the profit will be determined by the long-term health of American International Group ([|AIG], [|Fortune 500] ), the timing of the Treasury's sale in the stock and AIG's share price.The GAO said that AIG was showing signs in 2011 that the company was becoming "stable and profitable," with net income of $18.5 billion for the year, bolstered by income tax benefits and divested businesses. Treasury's exposure to AIG, which received government aid beginning in 2008, has been reduced sharply from the more than $180 billion committed to the bailout. In the latest sale of AIG stock, the Treasury said Monday that it was going to sell about $5 billion worth of common stock, reducing the remaining investment to $30.7 billion.

AIG's bailout was intended to prevent bankruptcy by a lot of state and local government agencies. Many of those agencies borrowed heavily bonds that were backed by AIG. A failure of AIG would have resulted in an immediate default on most of these bonds, which would have made literally hundreds of billions of dollars worth of bonds! Agencies ranging from toll road authorities to subway systems to city/town water and sewer systems were all funded with bonds backed by insurers like AIG. A failure by AIG would have even bankrupted school systems around the country, many of which used AIG-backed bonds to fund school construction and other capital improvements.