This piece was reprinted by OpEd News with permission or license. It may not be reproduced in any form without permission or license from the source.
The 85-year old Wall Street firm was the first major one to fail, and "Its stockholders would eventually be wiped out in what was described as the first government bailout." Many others, of course, followed with perhaps more to come once the next leg of the crisis begins.
Writing in Vanity Fair about Bear Stearns, Bryan Burroughs said there was never "anything on Wall Street to compare to it: a 'run' on a major investment bank, caused in large part not by a criminal indictment or some mammoth quarterly loss but by rumor and innuendo (that) had little basis in fact."
The questions are why, cui bono, and did the firm fall or was it pushed, even though like others on the Street it took huge risks that could backfire in hard times. But there was more going on than reported. "There were forces at work here that suggest illegal activities on a number of levels."
The firm was also independent enough to rile competitors, perhaps some arranging for it to fail, and if it did, they'd profit hugely through greater consolidation for larger market shares. So by some accounts, it was targeted by naked short selling, rumors of a liquidity problem at a time it was adequately capitalized, and heavy put option buying to sink its stock price and drive the company to the wall in a matter of days. It gave JP Morgan Chase a chance to buy it at a tiny fraction of its peak valuation, or in other words, profit hugely from a vulture purchase arranged by the Fed.
In short order, Lehman Bros., Merrill Lynch, and other noted firms failed, giving Wall Street survivors like Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, and Bank of America more power than ever.
The Lehman Liquidation
In asking "Did Lehman Brothers Fall or Was It Pushed," Ellen Brown quoted author Lawrence MacDonald saying the company was in no worse shape than other major Wall Street banks, so he concluded that Lehman was "put to sleep. They put the pillow over (its) face and they put her to sleep." But why is key.
Schechter quoted economist Michael Hudson blaming CEO Dick Fuld saying:
Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
2
2
1
