American International Group

This is absolutely a joke.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The bailout is now the hottest lobbying game in town.

Insurers, automakers and American subsidiaries of foreign banks all want the Treasury Department to cut them a piece of the largest government rescue in U.S. history.

The betting is that many with their hands out will be successful, especially with financial markets in a stomach-churning dive and predictions the economy is about to tumble into a deep recession.

Former Goldman Sachs Chairman John Whitehead said Thursday that New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer threatened him during an April phone call after Whitehead wrote an op-ed piece critical of Spitzer's attacks against American International Group's Maurice "Hank" Greenberg......

In his op-ed piece Thursday, headlined "Scary," Whitehead offered what he said was a transcript of Spitzer's statements: