Bear Stearns

I'm almost hesitant to post another report on a lavish party thrown by a bank receiving taxpayer assistance, because by now it is almost cliche. I'm making the exception for three reasons:

1. We haven't heard anything about Bear Stearns in awhile
2. The party took place across the Pond, so was largely under US media radar
3. I've had this great picture for months and can finally use it

Also, the scope of the bash was pretty audacious, if I do say so myself. 900 bottles of wine and 2,000 pints of beer? That has to be one for the books. Hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year.

This is cryptic Lord Of The Rings-style soliloquy currently being spouted out of Alan "Ace" Greenberg's mouth.

The once king of Bear Stearns (speaking of things that are 'no more', amirite?!), who has officially spent 61 years working on Wall Street, said that the investment-banking model he created and pioneered is now dead.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=agN6XHEZNRMw&refer=h...

Where will we place all the blame for our economic peril then, Ace?

Warren Buffet invested $5B in GS after it became a bank holding company.

If Bear Stearns shored up capital and didn't face insolvency prior to being bailed out, would it have prevented Lehman from going under? Would it have stopped the domino effect or would it have been something like final destination where death skips over the one firm and move onto to the next in line?

Wanted to see what you guys thought about it. If Bear didn't go down by receiving an investment from WB, would that have made it easier for Lehman to raise capital thus preventing its downfall?

a compilation of his comedic insults..

To Bear

"We also spoke to Sarah, a young girl living in NoLiTa who was duped into going home with a guy who used one of these ploys. “You know, I was hunting in the cabinet under his sink like I always do the morning after I go home with a guy,” she told us, somehow convinced that the morning after was better than never.

“And get this—stuffed away in a corner, he had an economy sized box of Valtrex and” Choked up, but waving at us to signal that the worst was yet to come, Sarah finally was able to force out the clincher: “an old Bear Sterns T-Shirt.” She exhaled loudly, the vile words expunged from her system. Now exhibiting slight fever and swollen glands, she remarked: “I’m not sure which disgusted me more.”

“…I guess I should have known when he asked me to pay for my own taco at La Esquina.”"

To Goldman

Just thinking about this and please let me know your comments as to whether you think this is possible of not.

Let's say in the next few weeks some of the other banks start to falter, AIG is unable to shore up the $70Bn in financing they need, the Federal Reserve has extended the range of collateral that can be used to borrow capital (risky/toxic/low quality assets) and it starts causing a ripple effect that hits the commercial banks as well.

The Fed seizes the collateral and realizes that there is no market for it and it is pretty much worthless and they take the hit and pass it on to the taxpayers, Open mkt ops, sell bonds, etc.

But there's a bit of a widespread panic being among people that the FDIC may not be able live up to its duties and people run to the commercial banks removing their funds (as they did during the Depression).