Lehman Brothers is a full-service investment bank in the same way Arthur Andersen was a full-service accounting firm before we discovered Enron. As sacred keepers of the money, people at companies like this have every reason to be reckless. For example, well-connected college interns made over 25,000 USD per week this summer as 'consultants' for Lehman. Would you risk being seen giving undergraduate sophomores bribe-like compensation?
I'm not one to say whether decisions like this hurt or helped their bottom line, but it indicates just how much less marginal value the dollar has for players like Fannie, Freddie and Lehman than it does for those outside the investment class. Perhaps more importantly, it illustrates how power over cheap money can cloud one's judgment. Recent losses may spur on some cosmetic changes at big-name corporations, but let's not expect anything less than restructuring at the Fed & US Treasury to save the financial system.
My two cents -- Bring back the Greenback!
I'm not one to say whether decisions like this hurt or helped their bottom line, but it indicates just how much less marginal value the dollar has for players like Fannie, Freddie and Lehman than it does for those outside the investment class. Perhaps more importantly, it illustrates how power over cheap money can cloud one's judgment. Recent losses may spur on some cosmetic changes at big-name corporations, but let's not expect anything less than restructuring at the Fed & US Treasury to save the financial system.
My two cents -- Bring back the Greenback!
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