In NU's most recent online poll, 78 percent of those responding do not believe AIG will ever repay all the bailout billions the federal government and taxpayers laid out to rescue the troubled company. I fear our readers are probably right, and frankly Uncle Sam has no one to blame but himself for getting taxpayers into this black hole.

The problem is that the U.S. government has been running around like a chicken with its head cut off ever since the subprime mortgage crisis sent our economy off a cliff. We're been operating in panic mode for months now, and we are still making it up as we go along.

When AIG first came up against its life-threatening moment last fall, I was supportive of the Bush administration's effort to keep the organization afloat with emergency funds, which gave taxpayers a nearly 80 percent stake in the company.