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215 comments on DrumBeat: March 17, 2008

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Leanan on March 17, 2008 - 11:33am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I dunno...

Bear execs lack golden parachutes as stock plan crunched

Barring some unexpected boardroom generosity by JPMorgan Chase & Co, executives at Bear Stearns Cos may find that their walking away money has been crunched by the credit crisis.

Bear fire sale sparks financial rout

Staff turning up for work at Bear Stearns' Manhattan headquarters were welcomed by a two-dollar bill stuck to the revolving doors -- a spoof on the bargain-basement price of $2 per share that JPMorgan Chase is offering for the Wall Street firm. A hopeful Coldwell Banker realtor was hawking cheap apartments to employees who saw the value of their stock options go up in smoke.

If they got Maseratis, they may have to sell them.

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solardoc on March 17, 2008 - 12:08pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

According to Rogers, if BS was forced into bankruptcy, "...billions in January bonuses would have to be returned."

Yes, employee staff will suffer but no crocodile tears need be shed for the traders. They are big boys who can take care of themselves.

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Cid Yama on March 17, 2008 - 1:14pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Add Lehman Brothers to the list.

Lehman Brothers has lost a third of it's value in 2 1/2 hrs. Just like Bear Stearns on Friday. Actually down 36% right now and dropping quickly.

This thing is NOT contained.

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Cid Yama on March 17, 2008 - 1:45pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Lehman has now lost half it's value with hours left til market close.

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Twilight on March 17, 2008 - 2:46pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Looks like you fixed it - as soon as you posted this it turned around (well, a little anyway)!

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Leanan on March 17, 2008 - 1:45pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Lehman rout tests Fed's resolve

Investors still don't know what lurks on Wall Street balance sheets - and the ranks of possible bailout partners are getting thin.

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solardoc on March 17, 2008 - 6:01pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The article goes on to say,

"In the meantime... executives, legislators and regulators will have to work to restructure the U.S. financial system to remove the incentives for players to take irresponsible actions."

Yes, by all means, let's harness the best minds to restructure the sytstem. How about Greenspan and Rubin redux?

Glass-Steagall, where were you we we needed you?

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BrianT on March 17, 2008 - 6:13pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Solar: Skilling and Fastow were no worse than any of these guys (possibly not as bad).

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solardoc on March 17, 2008 - 7:28pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Skilling and Fastow were smaller fish who took the fall IMO.
Their masters and tutors are now feeling the heat. But watch how facile the real perpetrators will be in defining the problem and becoming part of the restructuring solution.

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solardoc on March 17, 2008 - 7:34pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The calls will go out now for economic physicians to restructure the financial system.

“During the long period of innocence in the 50s and 60s we basked in the happy conviction that economics was a developed science, roughly equivalent to the age of sulfanilamide in medicine. We were shocked to find that the state of economic science more nearly paralleled Dr. Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of the blood. Honest practitioners no longer try to hide their dubiety; many are resorting to leeches and poultices. I have faith that our economy is sufficiently robust to survive, yet I cannot forget the infant Louis XV, who, after contracting smallpox, was saved from death only because his nurse hid him from the ministrations of the doctors whose vigorous attentions killed his father and his brother.”

George Ball (1909-1994)
Investment Banker and former Under Secretary of State in the Kennedy and Johnson administrations and foreign policy advisor to the Carter administration.

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NZSanctuary on March 17, 2008 - 8:36pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

It's disturbing the version of history we get taught. We will go on believing some warped version of reality and basing our current decisions on the erroneous myths of the recent past. But that is a rant I do not have the time to address properly...

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215 comments on DrumBeat: March 17, 2008

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