Famed Firm Lehman Survived Everything But Bush

September 16. 2008

It’s amazing, Lehman Brothers, founded in the 1800’s, survived the Great Depression and the excess and financial turmoil of the 1980’s, yet it couldn’t survive George W. Bush.

Just what does that say about Bush and his presidency. Certainly not something to be proud of. The name Bush will live in infamy...and idiocy.

On Wall St., a problem of denial

How can this be happening? How can it even be possible that we wake up on a Monday morning to discover that Lehman Brothers, a firm founded in 1850, a firm that has survived the Great Depression and every market trauma before and since, is suddenly bankrupt? That Merrill Lynch, the "Thundering Herd," is sold to Bank of America the same weekend?

Just months ago, Lehman assured investors that it had enough liquidity to weather the crisis, while Merrill raised some $15 billion over the last year to shore up its balance sheet. Now they're both as good as gone.

Last week, it was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that needed a government bailout. This week, it looks as though American International Group and Washington Mutual will be on the hot seat. We have actually reached the point where there are now only two independent American investment banks left: Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. It boggles the mind.

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