The mysterious rise of AIG

There is no reason under heaven that AIG (AIG) should be up from $33 on Wednesday to over $50 today. At least it has sold off a bit in the afternoon.

AIG's new CEO Robert Benmosche told Reuters that he is being put upon by the press for being paid $7 million and having a huge villa in Croatia where he has been spending a recent vacation. Since taxpayers have put $180 billion into AIG, having a new chief with a big pay package is hardly reason to rejoice.

Benmosche also said that he would meet with Hank Greenberg, the man who built AIG into the largest insurance company in the world. Since Greenberg left the firm under a cloud of shame, it is difficult to understand why that would cause the shares to rally.