Making Genworth's collapse all the more painful was the surge in insurance industry stock prices last Wednesday after a report that the Treasury was prepared to give some large life insurers an injection of government aid. The rally sent up shares of MetLife(MET) and Prudential(PRU), mega-insurers that have long had bank holding-company status, as well as Lincoln National(LNC), Hartford Financial(HIG) and Genworth, which jumped on the bank-buying bandwagon during the height of the credit crisis last year. For more, click here.

"If we can take the pressure off this group, including MetLife (MET) and Pru (PRU) and Manulife (MFC) and Allstate (ALL), it would eliminate a second albatross -- mark to cash flow (as I like to call it) will take the pressure off banks with performing loans that had to be marked lower because of the inflexibility of the accounting system." ("Next, Fix the Insurers," 4-8-09)

Lincoln National (LNC), Prudential (PRU), MetLife (MET), Hartford (HIG) and Principal Financial Group (PFG) are right back on the red-hot griddle, and as a bull on the way down, this group is the only group that can truly shake my convictions. Given the exposure these firms have to bedrock principles, payoffs in annuities and life insurance, it is vital that some branch of the Treasury come on and say, "Look, your contractual obligations will be made good, regardless of the ramifications of the companies themselves." These deals have to be like pension benefit guarantees, but the government doesn't seem to be aware of it.

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Good Insurer - Bad Insurer: Barry Ritholtz, Director of Research for Fusion IQ tells TSC's Debra Borchardt why AIG should be split with the bad insurer spun off and the good insurer sent back to the states.
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Cramer: Insurers Will Fall: Jim Cramer says that the plethora of single digit stocks is a confidence eroder in the market and the insurers should be next on the chopping block. Real Money TV viewers get Cramer's videos first and commercial free!

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From a recent Mad Money show: "MetLife has become a speculative stock, as have all of the insurers. They've all been hammered. I think they're all too speculative and too dangerous."

AIG Makes Bernanke 'Angry': Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke told lawmakers the rescue of troubled insurance giant American International Group was 'uncomfortable' but absolutely necessary.

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