in july 2008, paterson warned state lawmakers and citizens of new york that the state faced its worst fiscal crisis since the 1970s. on tuesday, july 29, paterson gave a rare televised address that was broadcast on all of new york's major news networks, stating that the state budget deficit had gone up $1.4 billion over the 90 days since his original budget submission, citing rising costs due to the poor economy and a struggling wall street, and calling the state legislature back to albany for an emergency session starting on august 19, 2008. he also warned that the budget deficit was estimated to grow 22 percent by 2011. with aig on the verge of collapse on september 16, 2008, and in the aftermath of lehman brothers filing for bankruptcy, paterson publicly lobbied for a government bailout of the insurance giant. he hit the cable networks early and was quoted by media around the world. the previous day, paterson had loosened regulations to allow aig to draw reserves from its subsidiaries.