Lehman Brothers Fails, Merril Lynch Bought Out

Disaster, pure disaster. Incidentally, Do you all remember the guy last year who kept repeating over and over again "The Economy is strong!". Whatever happened to him?
 
Yeah, I remember him - he is our Prime Minister, and he is still saying it as far as our position is concerned!:p

Seriously MM, should you have held or thrown?
 
In fact it is the biggest financial explosion since the thirties - but simply the deliberate application of Liquidation, which discourages more of the same.
 
Well done the Fed for not bailing out these greedy bankers (did I spell that right?) they must be punished for their excesses. Let Wall St sort out it's own mess not the taxpayer.
 
It has been a re-occuring topic: never spend more than you have. We (here in Holland) have been boggled for ages at the ease with which money is lend to people. Mortgages can be easily triple quadruple their yearly income etc. etc. It is just asking for troubles.
Over here all applications for a loan are looked over by a special bureau. If you are black listed there you can't borrow money for 5 years, can't get a credit card for 5 years or you can't even get a personal loan for 5 years... And the rules are getting even more stringent! The government wants to link all financial data bases together, including phone services. If you have failed to pay for your subscription for more then 3 months in a row..... well you know the drill!
 
perseus said:
Well done the Fed for not bailing out these greedy bankers (did I spell that right?) they must be punished for their excesses. Let Wall St sort out it's own mess not the taxpayer.
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In theory that's correct, but in fact by doing nothing it could just make the economic situations worse. During the 1920s, President Hoover refused to bail out the banks that got into trouble. This caused a Rush on the Banks and in the end triggered the Great Depression. And remember its not the bankers that go down with the ship (they have their golden parachutes), they take a lot of uninvolved people like investors and the employees with them.

I work in IT. Suppose that I were at Lehman brothers, I would be out of a job today, without my paycheck (as of today employees cannot be paid their salaries). Is it my fault that the bankers got greedy? My job is just to keep the computer systems up and running. How do I explain to my landlord or the bank that manages my mortgage that I cannot pay them because the greedy bastards at the top wrecked the company.
 
Ted said:
It has been a re-occuring topic: never spend more than you have.
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That really is all there is to say. But I think some people need to suffer and those guys, like Mmarsh said, are the ones who get away with it.
So where are these great American militias?
Useless I tell you, useless.
 
mmarsh said:
I work in IT. Suppose that I were at Lehman brothers.
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Providing you handled your finances correctly (admittedly an unlikely scenerio if you worked for Lehman Bros) you would have saved so much you would never need to work again. I heard the average (mean) salary for an employee last year with bonuses was more than £ 300k in London. Suppose this take agrees with you though :)


LEHMAN EXECS TO LEAD SLIGHTLY LESS OPULENT LIFESTYLES EXECUTIVES at Lehman Brothers could be forced to manually adjust the seating temperature in their Mercedes, it was claimed last night.





fuld.jpg
Dick's going to be fine, thank goodness​






As America's fourth largest investment bank collapsed, the management team have downgraded their executive limousine orders for next year insisting they can no longer afford the automatic body heat regulator and the climate controlled glove box.

Lehman chief executive Dick Fuld said: "Be in no doubt, the long term effects of this collapse are going to be awful. For you.

"You're going to lose your job, your dignity and possibly your home. I don't need a job - per se - but I will miss accumulating more money than I and all my descendants could ever reasonably spend.

"I don't know what I'd do if I hadn't spent my career paying myself millions of dollars and accruing a vast personal fortune while taking pointless risks with people's hard earned savings.
"But I hope my unimaginable wealth and wide ranging property portfolio will make your extreme hardship that bit easier to bear.

"Would you be happier if I sat out the recession in Acapulco or Martha's Vineyard? Please do let me know."

He added: "But it won't all be plain sailing. Though, it has to be said, I will be doing quite a lot of plain sailing, especially in early June. Do you sail?

"Next year's Mercedes is already looking distinctly shabby, while this winter in Aspen we may have to 'eat in' one night. We've decided to open a tin of macaroni cheese and pretend to be ordinary."

Fuld said he would also be able to devote more time to his role with New York charity the Robin Hood Foundation, which, he insisted, was not 'some sick ****ing joke'.

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/...lightly-less-opulent-lifestyles-200809161257/
 
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Interesting post Perseus; I haven't viewed the link yet, but you seem to make the case for Paulson's decision to invoke Liquidation and pull the plug on Lehman; he obviously felt the same way you do.

The last guy to do it was the guy in the same chair the last time such a crisis occurred, and of course that did have dire consequences; let's hope for a better outcome this time.

The correct tough decision ? We shall see, very quickly; here, our banking system has already been hard hit today.
 
We had regulations, set in place following the Depression to help try and prevent this from happening again.

They were repealed in 1998-2000 in a movement led by Phil Graham, who was the chief economic advisior to John McCain.

One meathook, coming up.
 
perseus said:
Providing you handled your finances correctly (admittedly an unlikely scenerio if you worked for Lehman Bros) you would have saved so much you would never need to work again. I heard the average (mean) salary for an employee last year with bonuses was more than £ 300k in London. Suppose this take agrees with you though :)
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Unfortunately that's not the case. These banks are notorious tight-asses when it comes to the (middle-management and lower) employees. Oh they give incredible bonuses to the high-end traders, the executives and the other top tier positions. But people on my level (administration, support) get market rate wages+benefits, that is when they are not relying on external consultants which in IT they usually are (to keep costs down). Even when times are fat, the prosperity of these institutions is rarely shared to those at the bottom.

Cheap and Greedy usually go together hand in hand.
 
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