lehman going under

[evokanivo]

The Fed is taking a different stance with Lehman (not willing to limit losses for potential buyers) than it did with Bear Stearns, which seems likely to result in Lehman going under.

The down side is that fear will spread through Wall Street, now that uncle Sam isn't stepping in to save Lehman with tax-payer money - resulting in selling of investment bank stocks.

The upside is that tax-payers aren't saddled with the debt.

All this is confusing to me for 2 reasons:
1) The current government usually favors large corporations over the tax-payer.
2) Isn't the government interested in devaluing our currency and "starting from scratch" to minimize our national debt? (Just a theory...)

Is this just Treasury Secretary Paulson trying to save his hide after questions being raised over previous bailouts of FNM/FRE/BSC, or is there a fundamental difference that makes Lehman Brothers less worth saving?

[lamont]

i'm still sticking with my bet that paulson is trying to appear like a hawk, while the result of the negotiations is going to be another bailout when you pick apart the agreement.

i guess there's always a chance that someone in the administration decided to pick the wrong thing to be a fiscal hawk on and gave paulson marching orders to just commit financial suicide, but that just doesn't fit well with the way the bush administration has behaved up until now... i doubt it... but it'd certainly make next week exciting if it occurs...

[sid]

[lamont]

[evokanivo]

As of 9:30pm pacific time, news says Lehman is filing for bankruptcy. I had bet that we'd have another bailout like with BSC - shareholders receiving upwards of $10/share. Damn...lost a decent chunk of money while betting this administration would rip off taxpayers once again. Who woulda thought? Looks like a black swan has just been sighted.

I feel like I 1/2 way deserve it because I'm betting on what I know to be a bad/immoral thing occurring, but still...if I'm going to pay for a bailout as a tax payer, I'd like to minimize the amount I'm actually paying for...Now I've lost stock AND I'm probably going to end up financing additional government loans for other banks.

[sid]

what i dont get is BofA paying $44 billion for Merill lynch? They could have waited and gotten them cheaper.

RIP Lehman Brothers (1850 - 2008)

[rose-colored-coolaid]

[perfectfire]

[sid]