Monday, September 15, 2008

Today, Mother of Market Mondays?

UPDATE: DOW -503.99, NASDAQ -81.36, S&P below 1200 at close. Another Black Monday.

"The tectonic plates beneath the world financial system are shifting, and there is going to be a new financial world order that will be born of this. It's an ugly process.''

---Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital Group Inc.

What we're seeing here today with Lehman Brothers fall is the proverbial chickens coming home to roost.

Read. My. Lipstick: The Feds should NOT bail out Lehman Brothers with our taxpayer monies under any circumstances. (Nor should they have bailed out Fannie and Freddie as they did.) The markets need to sort this out for themselves, as they will. It may take some time. Fine. No quick fixes.

Most of all, the markets need to let failure be an option, because that is the reality. Failure is a real part of life that can bring some maturity and restraint back to the roiling markets. But a doofuss like this cannot understand this. Obama's remedy for this is way too much government involvement, punishment and overkill which always creates more problems than it solves. His way is hubris.

Richard Fuld, aka the Gorilla, is the CEO who shares much responsibility for the massive decline of his company. He's the guy who modestly gave himself---with the acquiescence of his board---a $22 million bonus at the end of 2007 in spite of LEH's mounting losses from the sub prime debacle last year. Now-bankrupt Lehman shareholders are the ones who should be outraged and take action accordingly. Unfortunately, it's these kinds of excesses which do indeed beg for federal government regulation. This is also McCain's reasonable position which I applaud.

2 comments:

  1. thanks, it' fascinating and the MSM gets the story line wrong a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bail out these bastards and you send a telegram announcing there are never any adverse consequences for excessive behavior.

    ReplyDelete