Goldman Sachs now looking for a partner to bail them out (Bloomberg)

[JCMach1]

just breaking...

part of the story... waiting for the breaking to appear:

...Analysts including David Trone at Fox-Pitt Kelton Cochran Caronia Waller have said the demise of Lehman and Merrill may force Goldman and Morgan Stanley to pursue a sale or some sort of transaction with a bank, to gain a stable funding base of deposits and the confidence of the markets. The firms hold more than $20 of assets for every $1 in capital, making them dependent on lenders.

``From what Goldman said on their conference call, they said they're going to go it alone,'' Smith said. ``But when you're leveraged it's not up to you, it's up to your trading counterparties.'' ... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aaWAsCTFd3iM&refer=home

[PA Democrat]

1. OMG. This is really getting bad.

[WeDidIt]

2. WaMu, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley,

We're fucked.

[tridim]

7. This is like the finale of Fight Club.

Except the destruction is self-inflicted.

[CJCRANE]

3. I thought they were

"The Masters of the Universe"?

:shrug:

On edit: People should be begging to have the election early to get the Dems into power ASAP!

[liberalmuse]

4. FUCK!

That is all. :(

[Maven]

5. Holy shit.

[EFerrari]

6. Is there anything left? The floorboards?

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. Dominos are now falling

really falling

[JCMach1]

9. If this happens, there would be no major independent American

Investment Banks left...

If Wachovia takes on Morgan Stanley.

[The_Casual_Observer]

10. Goldman Sachs is populated with overpaid Ivy Leaguers

who have kept Sotheby's, Christies & Per Se in business. Why should I care?

[liberalmuse]

11. Does this mean...

We will need to learn to love eating cardboard, or how to cook dandelion soup? Is there anyone here at DU who has survived The Great Depression? If so, we could really use some tips right now.

[AlCzervik]

12. Guess who used to be the COO of GS and is now the Secretary of the Treasury?

go ahead, guess.

[Neshanic]

13. WAAAA! There is nobody left to buy me! Pop-goes-the weasel!"

[JCMach1]

14. U.S. Stocks Plunge as Lending Freezes Up Following AIG Takeover

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley, the only remaining independent brokerages on Wall Street, plunged the most ever. General Electric Co., the world's third-biggest company, fell 6.7 percent and U.S. Steel Corp. slid 11 percent. Yields on three-month Treasury bills sank to the lowest since World War II as investors sought the relative safety of government debt, and a measure of corporate borrowing costs surged above the level seen during the crash of 1987.

``It's ugly,'' said Michael Mullaney, a Boston-based money manager for Fiduciary Trust Co., which oversees $10 billion in stocks and bonds. ``It's about the worst I've seen it in 25 years. You have to have free-flowing credit to lubricate the system. That's not happening right now.'' ... About $4.4 trillion of market value has been erased from global stocks this week... http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aMm1ABoO4Ves&refer=home

[screembloodymurder]

15. I expect to see Warren Buffet enter the fray.

He likes a bargain.