The bankrupt souls in the City are finally tasting defeat

[scielle]

Listening to London's Brilliant Parade on my way home from a 12-hour-a-day gig at one of the last remaining investment banks in the City, wondering how long we're going to be around. It really has been Armageddon around here - M&A activity has pretty much died; everyone is waiting it out, shaking in their boots, and trying to fly under the radar. I walked past the Lehman office the other day to find employees crying and hugging each other in the front lobby. Our bank recently lost a bundle on XL and in a bizarre twist of events ended up owning an airline...the guy a few desks down from mine went from Head of Debt Finance to airline CEO overnight We now get an updated Internal Phone List 2 or 3 times a week - a sure sign that another poor souls is out of a job.
Anyone here been hit by this fiasco yet?

[blooch]

It wouldnt surprise me if Bush tries to stir up another country to go to war with to take peoples minds off the economic situation in the States? And no doubt Gordon Brown will be happy to be his lap dog just as Tony Blair was over Iraq. We are all just pawns in the chess set!

[always dancing]

Well it will get all of us soon. Even people who did pay there mortgages can not get new ones because they are so strict. So the contractors can't buy new properties, people can’t get home equity line of credit to do home improvements, people can’t buy houses, insurance companies are finding reasons to cancel policies, people have no extra money to spend, people are having the cars repossessed.... The economy will come to a halt. We will only be able to listen to music we already own. Does this sound like a Talking Heads song?

[Otis Westinghouse]

There will be much negative fallout, clearly, but maybe some necessary lessons will be learned and future generations will look back in amazement at the greed and irresponsibility of this era before the advanced capitalist world was forced to face up to its infantile blindness and wise up. (Cue Aimee Man.)

[pophead2k]

I agree Otis. This too shall pass, but it shall pass not like a ship in the night but like a painful kidney stone. What irritates me is that my government's tardy action was finally only spurred by the potential failures of the stock market and the subsequent financial pain that would finally be felt by the very wealthy. Let's be clear: individuals borrowing above their means are just as, if not more, guilty than the greedy bastards who hung those sweet deals out there. Still, it interests me that the 'bailout' option did not become viable until the institutions were in trouble. Some sort of backup plan for the idiot individual borrowers may have prevented the crisis from hitting this stage.

I am angry that as a solid 'middle class' American with a stellar credit rating, I would have a very difficult time getting a loan right now if I wanted to buy a house. The city I live in, which has a AAA credit rating (safest rating for a municipality) can't get a taker to float a secured 30 million dollar bond to make needed infrastructure improvements. Ridiculous.

This crisis is bi-partisan. However, it is annoying that conservatives want to play laissez-faire until their own are threatened. Then they have no problems creating and endorsing behemoth bureaucracies within the federal government that expend billions in order to shore things up. To be fair, many conservative legislators are staunchly against the bailout, but their leadership is great guns for it.

By the way, I'm suspending my job and my bill payments until we get this crisis under control.

[mood swung]

By the way, I'm suspending my job and my bill payments until we get this crisis under control.

I'm with you on this one. Southern solidarity!

[Who Shot Sam?]

By the way, I'm suspending my job and my bill payments until we get this crisis under control.

I'm with you on this one. Southern solidarity!

Hey, wait a minute. We yankees are in as well!

Anyone watch Palin's interview with Couric? Man, I just don't know what to say. She's as dumb as a bag of hammers.

This raised a chuckle...

Where will the candidates be today?

Barack Obama
Oxford, Mississippi - Presidential Debate

Joe Biden
No public events scheduled
[Michelle Obama and Jill Biden have no public events scheduled]

John McCain
TBD: Details may emerge during one of the many media interviews McCain is doing during his "suspended" campaign.

Sarah Palin
Protecting America from Russian invasion.

[oily slick]

that cross-eyed loon is indeed as dumb as a bag of hammers. what an embarrassment it is that we have to talk about this. the low point in america's existence. well, not really i guess since there are so many in recent years. there is such a real chance of mccain getting elected. it is astonishing. when you factor in the bradley effect there are a good 4 or 5% of liars in these polls, bigots behind the voting curtain, so it is neck and neck at this point. potential end of the world stuff for us. it of course comes down to 4 or 5 states and one can only hope the working class overcomes their inbred apprehension and does the obvious right thing.

[Who Shot Sam?]

oily, the Bradley Effect has been widely disproven. I can send you a few links to research if you would like.

[oily slick]

this is a prez election. the bradley effect has been went away in recent elections, but i fear this here deal is so large and emotional that it will resurface. i hope you are right, but i will not be comfortable unless obama holds high single digits leads in pennsy, ohio, michigan, come election day. va, fla, and nc would help as well.

[always dancing]

As Mr. Bill use to say OOOH NOOOO I had WaMu stock!!