Yeah, we pulled the Wall Street meltdown of 2008 "out of our butts".
My 401k lost over HALF its value. And I'm small potatoes. Houses were being foreclosed on left and right. Businesses were dropping like flies. People were being laid off.
There was GLOBAL panic. Stock markets all over the world were crashing.
Do you guys actually live in a cave? How can you not remember what happened like five seconds ago?
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CRISIS WEEKEND 2008
The Subprime Mortgage Crisis on Trial
August 25, 2010, 11:37 am
Peter J. Henning follows issues involving securities law and white-collar crime for DealBook’s White Collar Watch.
The financial crisis has led to only a few civil and criminal cases against executives, and even those focused on peripheral issues: Goldman Sachs’s peddling of a credit derivative obligation and the communications of two former Bear Stearns hedge fund managers.
But the Securities and Exchange Commission’s securities fraud action against Angelo R. Mozilo, former chief executive of Countrywide Financial, promises to feature the aggressive mortgage practices of what was then the nation’s largest mortgage lender.
G.E. Disputes Incident in Paulson’s Book
February 11, 2010, 12:35 pm
When it comes to Henry M. Paulson Jr.’s new book, “On the Brink,” it seems there’s a little bit of disagreement over some of the particulars — and should make for an interesting conversation with Jeffrey R. Immelt next week.
In this case, Mr. Immelt, General Electric’s chief executive, is disputing an anecdote in which he’s purported to have told the former Treasury secretary about his company’s commercial paper troubles at the height of the crisis.
Fed to Offer Bridge Loan to A.I.G. and Take Control of Firm
September 16, 2008, 5:24 pm
Updated: The Federal Reserve plans to offer an $85 billion bridge loan to the American International Group in return for control of the ailing insurance giant, people briefed on the matter said Tuesday night.
In an intense discussion at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Tuesday afternoon, the Fed and a group of executives from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and other firms agreed that a banking syndicate to provide the $75 billion in emergency financing could not be arranged by Tuesday night.
After Lehman’s Fall, Picking Up the Pieces
September 16, 2008, 8:38 am
Lehman Brothers’s bankruptcy filing has set the stage for hard-fought negotiations in and out of the courtroom, as potential buyers pick through its remaining assets and creditors seek to maximize their recoveries.
Barclays confirmed Tuesday that it was in talks with Lehman about “the possible acquisition” of some assets at the American bank.
Meanwhile, Lehman was said to be continuing talks with several private equity firms over a sale of its entire investment management division, and has reportedly narrowed the list of potential buyers to Bain Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Clayton Dubilier & Rice and Hellman & Friedman.
BofA’s Merrill Deal Brings Risks and Opportunity
September 16, 2008, 8:11 am
Last Friday, Kenneth D. Lewis, chief executive of the Bank of America Corporation, was in his headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., pondering a possible acquisition of Lehman Brothers, the foundering investment bank.
By the next morning, Mr. Lewis already had a new target in his sights: Merrill Lynch, The New York Times’s Eric Dash reports. John A. Thain, Merrill’s chief executive, phoned Mr. Lewis about a deal and by Saturday afternoon the two men were encamped in a Bank of America apartment in the Time Warner Center overlooking Central Park.
A Fight for a Piece of What’s Left
September 16, 2008, 8:10 am
A worldwide battle began on Monday over the remains of Lehman Brothers as the biggest bankruptcy filing in history sent creditors scrambling to protect their investments, The New York Times’s Jonathan D. Glater and Gretchen Mrorgenson reported.
Lawyers for global companies like JPMorgan Chase, the General Electric Capital Corporation and Credit Suisse rushed into court, as well as small investors, like Arapahoe County, Colo., and the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District in the suburbs of Dallas. All may be owed money by Lehman and want to preserve their interests in its reorganization, which will be overseen by a bankruptcy judge.
Attention to Turns to Lehman’s Fuld
September 16, 2008, 8:06 am
Even in the final hour, Dick Fuld could not let go.
As midnight approached on Sunday and the world anticipated a bankruptcy filing from Lehman Brothers, Mr. Fuld, the bank’s pugnacious chief executive, continued to work the phones, desperate to find a buyer for a venerable franchise he had saved from near death in the past, according to The New York Times’s Ben White and Michael M. Grynbaum.
After Bank of America and Barclays walked away on Sunday, unwilling to do a deal without government support, Mr. Fuld called anyone he could think of, including Morgan Stanley, that might agree to a last-second transaction, The Times said.
Wall St.’s Turmoil Sends Stocks Reeling
September 16, 2008, 7:53 am
Fearing that the crisis in the financial industry could stun the broader economy, investors drove stocks down almost 5 percent Monday, sending the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index to their lowest levels in two years.
The Dow fell 504.48 points, its biggest one-day point drop since Sept. 17, 2001, the first trading day after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
On Tuesday, the slide continued overseas. Japanese banking stocks posted their biggest one-day loss since 1987. European markets opened lower.