...grabbed from boingboing.net...
The American financial system was shaken to its core on Sunday. Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. faced the prospect of liquidation, and Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed to be sold to Bank of America Corp. The U.S. government, which bailed out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac a week ago and orchestrated the sale of Bear Stearns Cos. to J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. in March, played much tougher with Lehman. It refused to provide a financial backstop to potential buyers. Without such support, Barclays PLC and Bank of America, the two most interested buyers, walked away. Late Sunday night, Lehman said it intends to file for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
For anyone wanting a primer on how the mortgage crises started, I highly recommend listening to the whole hour of This American Life: #355: The Giant Pool of Money. It's the best reporting I have ever heard on anything, let alone the housing crises. While it doesn't go beyond events after April 08, it will bring you mostly up to speed.
the above edition of This American Life was released on May 09, 2008. look it up @ thisamericanlife.org.
Gettin scary out there.
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2 comments:
the dollar went down 2.5% to 4.5% in most asian markets. tuesday is going to be interesting, to say the least.
crash?
The Fed moves in for the kill... Soon
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