On Sept. 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers became the largest bankruptcy filing in the history of this country. It was the first domino of many to fall, followed by the likes of Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Countrywide, Wachovia, Washington Mutual, and many other banks and investment firms that had bet too much money on the subprime mortgage market, only to have it collapse when people realized many of those bad loans would never be repaid. These events ripped apart the American economy and left people out of work for extended periods of time. But not most of the bankers responsible for the mess. [More]
bear stearns
How Much Have The Big Banks Been Penalized Over Mortgage Mess And Where Is All That Cash Going?
By 3.6.12
The last few years have seen numerous settlements between the nation’s biggest mortgage lenders and various federal and state authorities. And while we hear numbers like “a total of $25 billion,” exactly which banks are responsible for the biggest chunks of these settlements? [More]
Malcolm Gladwell Deeply Offends Wall Street By Comparing Them To Overconfident Gamblers
By 7.28.09
If you’re looking to see the collapse of Bear Stearns explained using the British defeat at Gallipoli as an example of disastrous overconfidence, you can do no better than Malcolm Gladwell‘s new piece in the New Yorker. Be forewarned, however, that Wall Street apparently thinks it’s a load of crap.
5 More Wall Street Dudes Who Deserve A Punch In The Face
By 10.7.08
WallStreetFighter has listed 5 more Wall Street dudes that deserve the old “Dick Fuld” right in the face. Guess which Wall Street loser is most punchable?
Two Economists From The University Of Chicago Explain What The Hell Just Happened
By 9.18.08
It’s one thing to understand what just happened to the financial markets, and yet another to actually be able to explain what just happened. Thankfully, Steven Levitt from Freakonomics walked down the hall and found two economists from the University of Chicago (Doug Diamond and Anil Kashyap,) who gave him the best explanation I’ve been able to find about what the hell just happened.
By 6.19.08
../..//2008/06/19/two-former-bear-sterns-executives/
Two former Bear Sterns executives were arrested today for securities fraud. [NYT]
Is This Woman The Smoking Gun Of The Mortgage Meltdown?
By 5.27.08
Meet Tracy Warren. NPR says she’s not surprised by the mortgage meltdown because she was supposed to be in charge of preventing it. Tracy worked for a quality control contractor that reviewed subprime loans for investment banks before they were sold on Wall Street, and her company’s biggest client was none other than Bear Stearns. Tracy says she found plenty of loans to reject. The trouble is, according to Tracy, after she rejected them… her bosses unrejected them.
Confessions Of A Hedge Fund Manager Redux
By 4.9.08
n+1: So can you tell me what happened with Bear Stearns? What were the steps?
Federal Reserve Extends Its Lending Authority In Bear Stearns Bailout
By 3.17.08
For the first time securities dealers, effective today and for at least the next six months, may borrow from the Fed on much the same terms as banks. The Fed also lowered the rate charged on such borrowings from what’s known as its discount window by a quarter of a percentage point, to 3.25%, and extended the maximum term to 90 days from 30.
Bear Stearns CEO Forced Out By Angry Shareholders, Common Sense
By 1.8.08
Bear Stearns CEO James Cayne is expected to step down as CEO due to pressure by pissed off shareholders , reports the Wall Street Journal.
