Inside The Collapse Of Lehman Brothers - The REAL Story Behind Paulson's Decision To Let Lehman Fail

An insider's account of what happened behind the scenes at Lehman Brothers, with Lawrence McDonald, author of "A Colossal Failure of Common Sense" and CNBC's Maria Bartiromo.  McDonald was a distressed debt trader for Lehman from 2004 until the bankruptcy filing.  Incidentally, he said his group made $2 billion in profit for Lehman Brothers in 2007. 

I recommend skipping to the 3:25 mark.  McDonald says Lehman's fate was sealed earlier in the Spring of '08 at a dinner between Paulson and Dick Fuld.  He implies there was bad blood going back a few years, and that the dinner did not go well, with Fuld lecturing Paulson repeatedly, telling the Hammer that he knew what he was doing, had been CEO for a lot longer than Paulson ran Goldman, and that he would de-leverage at his own pace.  Fate sealed.  I have always assumed it was part personal and part professional.  Nobody was very fond of the Gorilla and his abrasive nature, and Lehman's disappearance has obviously benefited Goldman Sachs in an outsized way.  I think we can finally shut this case.  It was the right decision to let Lehman fail even if Paulson did it for the wrong reasons.  The only problem is that the lesson was never learned as the subsequent AIG collapse and creation of TARP meant no one else would be allowed to fail and moral hazard would remain intact.

Comments

[spideydouble]

Give it up gobias. Your argument rests entirely on hearsay and idle speculation. Yes, Obama could just put this to rest by releasing his long forms birth certificate, but he has no legal obligation to do so, and, to my knowledge, this has never been asked of another President. Maybe he could offer to release it on the condition that if it backs up the short form and is consistent with his word all along - that he is a natural born U.S. citizen, then anyone on record will be immediately stripped of their own U.S. citizenship and deported to Darfur. You seem pretty quick to judge without a witness or corroborating hard evidence and no skin in the game yourself other than your reputation and credibility.

You are beginning to sound like a bad broken record, and though I value your insight and comments when they are on topic, it is increasingly difficult for me to read your comments at all, because it seems like, as of late, (and I realize this is probably an exaggeration in my own mind) greater than fifty percent of your comments have to do with either the Obama citizenship conspiracy or DailyBail's lack of religion not meeting your approval. If you can't demonstrate restraint, I will likely just ignore your comments entirely as I would any other forum troll. It's up to you to take steps to bring some level of trust and safety back into your discussion.

[DailyBail]

Ditto what Spidey said. This is not the Obama birth certificate spot.

[gobias bluth]

“I prefer a man who will burn the flag and then wrap himself in the Constitution to a man who will burn the Constitution and then wrap himself in the flag” Craig Washington

"The Constitution is the guide which I never will abandon." George Washinton

"Don't interfere with anything in the Constitution. That must be maintained, for it is the only safeguard of our liberties." Abraham Lincoln

[gobias bluth]

Spidey, your skepticism over Obama's citizenship is evident in your response but in the end misguided as you defend an indefensible act of cowardness on Obama's part. Trust and safety, it is Obama that has chosen to seal his birth records. As for ignoring my comments, Daily has done the work for you by censoring my post as he feels that this is not the place to question the integrity of Obama with regards to his citizenship credentials.

As for your using the term "forum troll", that demonstrates your abilitiies to handle contrary opinions. Dailly doesn't like the personal attacks. As for what I think of your comments about my posts, YAWN. My ability to demonstrate restraint will be to ignore you in the future, please oh please return the favor. Godspeed!

[john]

Pork Lawsuit Appeal Victorious!

http://www.speakupwny.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121403

[snip]

Buffalo, NY. June 24, 2010. In a decision that will send shockwaves throughout New York State, the Third Department Appellate Division today revived a citizens' lawsuit that seeks to outlaw billions of dollars in cash grants to private firms for alleged "economic development."

http://decisions.courts.state.ny.us/...010/508604.pdf

The Court agreed with the plaintiffs' main contention that the State may not funnel its funds through public benefit corporations such as Empire State Development Corporation as a means to avoid the Constitution's ban on gifts to private firms.

Note: This has a lot to do with the wind power fraud going on.......