American International Group, Inc.

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.

By Katherine Burton

Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Andrew Lahde, the hedge-fund manager who quit after posting an 870 percent gain last year, said farewell to clients in a letter that thanks stupid traders for making him rich and ends with a plea to legalize marijuana.

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: