The government guaranteed AIG's losses. They opened themselves up to earth shaking liabilities. But very little was actually required in the end ( their hope /

The government guaranteed AIG's losses. They opened themselves up to earth shaking liabilities. But very little was actually required in the end ( their hope / educated guess at the time it was entered into ). If the losses had been spectacular, the situation would have been desparate and the US would've had to take further evasive action. This is a far cry from stumping up that amount of actual cash required for research.