Guillotine time

As the market gets shakier and shakier, people wonder more and more what went wrong. All these smart people in charge of the entire economy - less than two dozen people was all it took to bring things to a fine mess - the credit market at a standstill. We now know that even the biggest businesses and the biggest banks were living from paycheck to paycheck. The aura and charisma of success was all just a veneer. I think the biggest and wealthiest American investors will soon start putting their money into Europe, China, and even Russia. How cool is that? As Sir Winston said, "Never have so few owed so much to so many." The Timid Reporter will post his interview of Jimmy Cayne here soon.

Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers is a New York based financial services bank which is about to go out of business, like Bear Stearns and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before it. That's what happens when you play fast and loose with money, just because you want to maximize profits (i.e., when you get greedy). Lehman had been around since 1850 and had been buffeted by bad turns of events - including bad management and the Great Depression - many times. It had survived by merging or striking deals with other firms - Goldman Sachs, E.F. Hutton, and American Express among others. Now this. It's up for sale if you're interested. I predict another Federal bailout. Who will bail out the Federals?