By JOE NOCERA
Executive Suite

It is a simple enough question: who bought the credit default swaps that American International Group sold during the housing bubble? And at this point -- after Bailout No. 4, with the government handing A.I.G. another $30 billion to go with the previous $150 billion -- you would think that the taxpayers would have the right to know that information. Is it Goldman? Royal Bank of Scotland? The Irish banks that are on the verge of collapse? What happened to all that transparency the new administration keeps talking about?

The answer, as I understand it, is that A.I.G. views these as "confidential transactions," and the government (as per usual?) is going along with that rationale. One government official told me that if the federal government divulged the names of the counterparties it would amount to a violation of the Trade Secrets Act -- unless the counterparties agreed to it, which they never will.

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