Dogs turning on each other on Wall Street

[marmar]

from MarketWatch:



DAVID WEIDNER'S WRITING ON THE WALL
Risk is gone on Wall Street
Commentary: Missing confidence shakes the Street's foundations
By David Weidner, MarketWatch


NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Where did it all go wrong?

Was it almost 10 years ago when after the bailout of Long-Term Capital Management Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan waved off lawmakers trying to rein in hedge funds?

Was it during the past five years when the rampant practice of securitizing mortgages took responsibility out of the loan-making game?

Was it the expiration of the uptick rule that allowed short sellers to drop rumors like matches on the gasoline of market panic?

Wall Street was supposed to be a place where everything had its price and where glory was for risk-takers. Now, four firms have been allowed to collapse and the only buyer, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., agreed to a deal only when the government guaranteed chief executive Jamie Dimon that his bank would have almost no exposure to risky assets.

Six months later Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. appears headed for bankruptcy. Bank of America Corp. and Barclays PLC pulled out of the talks during the weekend because the government refused to accept the downside of risk.

Good for you, Henry Paulson. It's about time someone put moral hazard back on the industry. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/david-weidners-writing-wall-lehman/story.aspx?guid=%7BFCAED76B%2DA96E%2D4DA8%2DB381%2DFA579D24EA7D%7D&dist=hplatest

[crickets]

1. Good article.

On Sunday night The Wall Street Journal's online edition carried the headline "Wall Street Firms Scramble to Avert Crisis." I'm not sure what "scramble" means but if it means cover your ass since the taxpayers have cut off the tap -- it's a dead-on description.

Ouchies.

[OhioChick]

2. K&R

:kick:

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Free Market, baby! Read it and weep.

I know I am.