New York City – Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection, but the Chapter 11 filing does not include its broker-dealer operations and other units, including Neuberger Berman.
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Lehman is looking at selling its broker-dealer operations, and is still in advanced discussions with a number of potential buyers of its investment management division.
Bankruptcy represents the end of a 158-year old company that survived world wars and the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management but could not survive the global credit crunch.
Investors in recent weeks had grown increasingly jittery about Lehman’s $46 billion of mortgages and asset-backed securities, as well as its credit rating and its ability to raise capital.
Officials at the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury are taking steps to mitigate risk to the system and assure the orderly functioning of the U.S. markets when they open Monday. And the Federal Reserve has also agreed to accept lower-quality assets in return for loans from the government.
no good
very scary, no one is safe
the economy is really bad the govermant can’t can’t bail evryone
flawed system totally, the worst is still to come
the basic problem is that they get bailed out by the government our tax dollars.
maybe we should let this guys sink like any other businesses, otherwise there is no consequences to the people who ran these companies and made stupid decisions.
If not that at least a law should be made that the big shots should lose all their bonuses and golden parachute. some of these guys will still
get them in these situations ranging up to 60-70 million dollars. that is crazy, they can gamble with other people money and it ends up that they win even if the gamble turn out horribly
PS I see some people complaining about spelling, advice use Firefox and it will have a spell check in it’s browser just like word. I hope their are no spelling mistakes here
I don’t wish to sound a doomsayer. I’ve been telling all my friends the last 2 years that the fact that the Federal government is piling on debt upon debt and not ONE PERSON in government is willing to face the truth, is a calamity of untold proportions. This attitude “delay facing the truth untill tomorrow” is going to permeate through and through the whole financial system.
Mortgages written by Wall Street crooks had no basis in reality; I had a closing and the attorney for the wall street banking firm, which had a 20 story building and ONLY DOING closings, told me he has no idea how these mortgages pass muster!
Well, tomorrow is here!
We’ve seen the fat years of these United States. Henceforth it’s going to be a schlepp and all of us better be prepared.
You see how all these false calculations are collapsing the biggest firms? do you really expect the whole United States system to fare any better? it’s bankrupt with capital letters just like Bear Sterns, Lehman, Merril, etc. Better read the interview with Alan Greenspan of today. He’s telling the truth as it is.
So pretty soon the lawyers for the U.S. will also file Chapter 11 except the question arises in WHICH COURT? The Hague? Lichtenstein?
Hashem Yereichem.
Listen, its Moshiach’s times B”H.
what about the 1000tnds of ppl that the gov is saving theyr jobs?
We are hitting a depression like the 1930’s.
If Obama wins there won’t be hurricanes, wars, problems, dicvorces, fighting, money problems, ……The celestial clouds are going to come and save us all!!
This Rosh hashonah daven real hard -with lots of kavanah for the entire klal yisroel.
It’s Official, they’re filing Chapter 11!
hashem yerachem for the yiddishe gelt lost…
Nebech, many many heimishe yidden are employed by this firms, and will be letgo, who dreamed that such powerfull firms will ever go down…
Formerly frum ,how could u say let these guys sink? Does that include my husband who’s now unemployed along with 25,000 others. What about people like us who had stock and now have nothing??? Not everone there is a millionaire.
The way that the gov’t bails out an entire economy is by printing money, just like after the S & L collapse of the late 70s. There will be inflation and hard times. Eventually, it will become profitable for people in the US to actually DO something for a living instead of just “brokering”.
The original idea of the bail outs was to extend credit to stop things like run on banks. That concept only works if the bank is sound and the run is based on consumer fears. These failures were not based on consumer fears, they are based on real concerns about firms not having enough money after losing all their money on bad mortgages. Loans are not the answer.
I hope the Government and lawyers go after all the bonuses paid for the last 3 years, this money belongs to the creditors and the US Government. In my mind, bonuses should be paid after profits, no profits= no bonuses.
What is happening in America today will be happening soon in Europe. When we will start the recovery, they will start their fall, and America will once again be on top financially.
please God! I hope this is not going to cause a domino effect
All this, while trillions of dollars are squeezed out of everybody by the anti-American OPEC oil cartel.
Ultimately when OPEC raised its prices and oil shot up over $100- a barrel over the past year, the US goose was cooked, it was just a new form of the old 1973 oil embargo that nearly crippled the West, just this time they (the Arab oil producing states with Russia behind them too) figured why do they need to shoot themselves in the foot, they could simply CUT BACK and NOT cut off the oil flow and score a double whammy (their version of “win-win”): Bring trillions of dollars into their coffers and at the same time let the US go bankrupt as it’s oil-dependent transport systems, trucks, SUVs and airlines and military thirts for even more expensive gasoline. This is like a drug cartel making everyone an addict and thensqueezing every drop of money out the addicts to quench their fixes at any price. It’s the way the British once dealt with China during the Opium Wars. made the Chinese into addicts and took all their money away as they helped to sell them opium, and if they fought back they killed them (like a modern day Islamic jihad frightens the West into even more inaction.)
But the West and America do not want to face this tough reality. As Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, Iran, Russia, Libya, Mexico, even Iraq has an oil surplus, and Venezuela are awash in tens of trillions of petro-dollars, the US economy struggles is hemoraging as those same dollars flow out of the US economy to pay its oild and import bills and pundits and leftists and apologists and pacificists pin the blame on “mortgages” and “a over-extended real estate market” etc that after all was used to buy and pay for housing for American citizens who are now faced with their own double whammy of more personal bankruptcy tied in with the collapsing banks and finacial institutions that held the mortgage debts and can’t fund them or pay for thgem any more because all the capital has been sucked out of the economy and gone south to OPEC.
It is time to think of sabre-rattling diplomacy against the oil pirates of OPEC and put them in their place, take ver the Venezulans oil fields for a start (Chavez is so out of line, and his people want to be liberated, and don’t just talk to Libay, kick out Gadafi and take over his oil fields, and tell the sneaky sheiks of the Emirates to get a life and hand over the oild fields to America OR ELSE, and put the Saudis on notice that they will get evicted from theit tyranical monarchy sooner than they think!) or else the USA will face more extortion for oil and even worse financial collapse.
Some tough decisions need to be made, but will they? Myabe McCain, with Sarah Palin at his side, will be the ones for this job. Sarah Palin knows oil and energy, she is from Alaska, one of the world’s biggest oil producing states!
If Obama comes in, we can all sit shiva!
To formerly frum: ” I hope their are no spelling mistakes here”
Umm,,,I think the correct spelling is “there” and not “their”
Yep. And let’s have another 4 more years of debt, foreclosures, tax breaks for the rich, record deficit, unemployment, and war. Go McCain-Palin!
McCain – Palin are the only ones tough enough to stand up to these Sheiks … We know The Saudis, Iranian’s, and all the Terrorist states are rooting for Barak Hussein Obama… We need to Drill for Oil and Natural gas, Develop tax incentives to promote more efficient electrical and gas use, fund additional research for Solar, Wind, Hydro, Thermal and any other seemingly meshugena alternative energy source (including leftover cholent… hey its biodegradable). And yes we are going through a nastier cycle than most downturns in recent memory… but we will power through this one as well. The China giant will fall on its face just like Japan did after their run up in the 90’s it’s just a matter of time.
This situation we are in is a long lasting effect of the Clinton fiscal policy. Ineffective policy led to the market run up in the late 90’s, which led to the collapse in 2000, which was exacerbated by 911, Money didn’t have where to go so it went into the RE market, which had and still has poor oversight. The RE market eventually blew up (2005) like a cholent on shabbos afternoon. So where did the money go next? It went into commodities like oil and caused the over speculation that we are seeing starting to come down (read: implode) now… So what now… Kulo B’dei Shomayim… Give Tzedoka it’s the best long term investment there is.
thanks for your support
fleetwood Says:
comments – arrow Formerly frum ,how could u say let these guys sink? Does that include my husband who’s now unemployed along with 25,000 others. What about people like us who had stock and now have nothing??? Not everone there is a millionaire.
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true I will lose some money on the stocks I own, my brother might lose his job. But some times one has to think beyond themselves and short term pains, for the betterment of the future.
maybe now, all the people who ran and made all the job cuts and all of us who where happy about that because their stock went up, and never once looked back at the little guy who lost there job, will now know how it feels. Did you cry, when 30,000 blue collar jobs where cut of moved overseas so you stock could go up, did you cry, did you ask the government to bail them out so 30,000 blue collar jobs should be saved, NO
Now the shoe is on the other foot, the white collars guys are losing their job. Now you know how it feel and maybe next time do something when other people on the bottom lose their jobs.
If you did nothing (neither did i) when those jobs where lost you have no right and hypocritical when you husband lost his jobs.
While I am not frum anymore, like to remind you and others that most of tanach has dire working that when socialites do not care about the little guy, it will come back to bite you, and it did
Spell Check Says:
comments – arrow To formerly frum: ” I hope their are no spelling mistakes here”
Umm,,,I think the correct spelling is “there” and not “their”
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to excuse myself I will claim that was a grammatical mistake.
What about all those uneducated dopes who were running around a few years ago, opening their own mortgage companies, giving seminars, trying to sound like experts – fooling the, nebach, gullible honest people looking for Parnassa!? They have to be held responsible!
When anybody loses his job, it’s heartbreaking for me.
Forget blaming Bush or Clinton.This came from pure greed. They were leveraged to the hilt. The Chofetz Chaim in one of his seforim(Can not remember which one), speaks about the dangers of debt.One should not go into debt unless it’s necessary.In the case of LEH they had to much debt and leverage.
אם בארזים נפלו שלהבת, מה יענו איזובי קיר
Well the poor guy living off uncle sam are always going to be very comfortable a roof on his head paid for, food paid for, vouchers paid for.
Oh yes they cannot afford to marry off their kids, maybe there is a govt program for that as well?
its the working class those that get up early morning sweat or cold and go out to work to provide for their families – they donty wear big tzitzis and go to shul 10 in the morning to daven… – its those working class, they are the ones suffering, and nobody talks about it.
They only talk how to make the poor feel more comfortable when the working guy goes out and sweats to make a buck.
It’s really terrible for all the people who are losing their jobs and we should all be mispalel for them. But it should also serve as a wakeup call to all those yidden whose devotion to capitalism and markets has come to rival their devotion to yiddishkeit. Raboisai, I feel that capitalism has become the new avoda zora — we should remember that money is only a means for improving life, not an end.
Tichale shono v’kililoseho — everybody have a gut gebentshed yohr.
It should be pointed out that the US uses 25% of the world’s oil, but only produces 3%. I don’t think anyone thinks that the US oil production could double never mind move up to the point where the US produces enough oil for its own use without some major changes.
The “Lets Drill for Oil” idea is a great one for making some people some money, but won’t solve the energy problems. And Lets not forget we have just had 8 years of a republican administration that got the US into this mess.
I don’t think we should blame the Republicans for the historically huge budget deficit. It’s a holdover from the Clinton administration.
those people withe goverment programs also suffer very much because prices are rising and the goverment does not give more so here we are again. the bottom line is the rich become richer they could afford losses all others have it hard. people think why we have all these problems all because oil and lending problems. these big strong companies were forced into morgage deals
that had a bad ending and everthing by everage people and companeis are rising because of oil and gas. so when you go out and elect any city official think if he can help these 2 problems that we are facing big time.
exactly, so you want to compare the poor guy that lives off uncle sam dosent work, get housing, food, school, help insurance no charge, but the prices are rising…….. to a guy that goes out and works erlich to make a dollar – works 3 weeks to pay hs rent and can barely afford those nice fruits and vegetables the poor guy gets, interesting comparison.
There is no “oil crisis”…for every 1% that the U.S. Dollar $ loses the prices of a barrel of oil goes up $4…don’t buy that “oil crisis” nonesense. The banks are only failing because they tried to make a killing on mortgages that were sold to people that couldn’t afford them.
Just like junk bonds…
Formerly frum thanks for your support. What you don’t realize is many employees were forced to take their bonuses as stock so basically they lost their earnings thanks to this. Sure let’s not cry for Dick Fuld but maybe have some pity for the little guy living paycheck to paycheck.
And by the way all those big guys pay tons in taxes to help support the little guy who lost his job. And we all pay tons in taxes to those who sit around all day collecting welfare. Maybe now my husband should sit around all day and live off the fat of the land.
Also your sympathy for your brother is heartwarming.
When the Lehman’s were making millions of dollars on inflated mortgages that depended on a rising real estate market, they weren’t sharing with taxpayers. It was called free market capitalism. Now that the bad mortgages are coming back to haunt them, they want the government to bail them out ( socialism ) with taxpayer dollars
Maybe your contributors don’t know but this is end result of Mr. Greenspan’s Ayn Rand philosophy. It is Darwinian captalism and it was high end poker playing. In the middle ages Alchimist tried to make gold from dirt these ganovim made gold into dirt with no oversight. The free market was not a free market rather a market for rapacious swindlers. McCain’s financial guru from Texas Gramm contributed to it.
There is a Yiddish proverb “vi me bet zich a zoi shluft men”. It was a inevitable outcome.
To fleetwood
I assume you are sarcastic however all the taxes those guys paid will not cover the damages they made. And 30,000 blue collar workers combined payed a lot of taxes too that now is paid to other countries.
If I would be a blue collar factory worker and lost my job because of whatever and the government and people said, hey live with it times change, I would say the same should be said and done or not done for white collar jobs. Your job is not needed anymore.
I do not see a difference, besides the personal connection. Sometimes one has to look at the big picture and not only how it effects them, I know it is very hard but that is what has to be done, otherwise in a few years the same crisis will occur.
questiopn, did you want the government to save and bail out us steel, to safe all those factory jobs, then i would say kol hacovod. If you remained silent, sorry charlie you husband and my brother are no different in the big picture.
the issue about welfare is two fold. There are many who truly cannot work either due to illness handicap and or other issues, i hope no one has a problem with that, I do not.
However, tighter controls are needed to get the cheats.
PS if people really want to scream and rip you hair out, corporate welfare cost the tax payers much more welfare to the poor.
I am amazed at the reasons given for this crisis. It is simply that the so called financial instruments , or derivatives were as valuable as bathroom tissue. Phil Gramm pushed through the Congress amandments which took off the Security and Exchange Commission from oversight. Alaska oil is not sold cheaper than middle east, or russian oil. Some of this derivatives were sold to Deutsche Bank and Barclay but only in small quantity. It Reagan’s and Greenspan Yerish for which people are paying now
Formerly Frum – you are way off base. It is people who went to college and grad school to better themselves who are losing their jobs. These are also the people that give millions to Tzedaka. Yes, anyone losing their job is a bad situation. But, people like Fleetwood’s husband worked his way up with no help from anyone and has more than given his share back to the community.
Could not resist
If you where amongst the Rubashkibn supporters, and think he is such a good employer, and are worried about lost jobs, you can check out AGRIPROCESSORS web site they are looking for workers.
Once there you can tell us how wonderful the company is and how good it is to work there.
Love to hear back from you.
Anonymous Says:
comments – arrow Formerly Frum – you are way off base. It is people who went to college and grad school to better themselves who are losing their jobs. These are also the people that give millions to Tzedaka. Yes, anyone losing their job is a bad situation. But, people like Fleetwood’s husband worked his way up with no help from anyone and has more than given his share back to the community.
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and the blue collar workers do not help the community, you know for a fact that steel workers do not give to charity and maybe volunteer their time. You have any prove to back up your claim that college grads give more charity than blue collar workers. and working in a steel mill, making steel for your cars, trucks, buildings and whatever is very hard work, an some also worked up the ladder to get more complicated jobs in the steel mill.
I do not see why to government should help white collar jobs over blue collar jobs. I simply think either the government bails out blue collar jobs and white collar jobs or don’t to both.
PS societies can function without white collar jobs but not without people doing the hard manual blue collar jobs.
Formerly Frum – the fact is, that it is the people that make the millions that keep our society afloat. It has always been that way. Trust me I have worked and lived on the bottom rung of the ladder and appreciate the job that any person willing to work does. That being said, the loss of income from these huge companies will have a profound effect on all of us and if the Govt. can help those who actually pay into it (unlike welfare recipients) then it should.
Anonymous Says:
comments – arrow Formerly Frum – the fact is, that it is the people that make the millions that keep our society afloat. It has always been that way.
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I am not talking about welfare i am talking about the laborer that builds everything, did you cry and say the government should bail out the companies so 30,000 steel workers can keep their jobs. I do not think so, if not then the same should apply for the white collar workers. I really cannot see the difference, as a matter of fact they blue collar workers are maybe less able to get a another job and they are in worse shape than the educated.
why no outcry for tghem to save their jobs. My assumption is that you do not know that many personally and do know many white collar workers.
Is it okay when companies like Lehman buy industrial companies and cut 1,000’s of jobs to be more efficient and make more profits. However when the same thing happens to white collar job then the concern about their welfare and how they will make a living come up?
why not the same concern when the blue collar workers lose their jobs.
All I am saying the same rules should apply to white collar workers and blue collar workers
In addition there must be consequences to peoples action. There are still many other companies that can do what Lehman did who did not make the errors that Lehman did. those will survive and hopefully do a better job of managing their assets.
Thanks anon 2:05 for your support.
Smarty Pants Says:
“I don’t think we should blame the Republicans for the historically huge budget deficit. It’s a holdover from the Clinton administration.”
You’ve got to be kidding. When Clinton left office we had a historically huge budget SURPLUS.
Every day that our soldiers occupy Iraq is costing us a gazillion dollars. How do you think we are paying for that war? Bush has not raised taxes, so how do you think we’re paying for it? WE’RE BORROWING (i.e., floating U.S. Bonds). WAR = DEFICIT. Every day the U.S.’s world economic status is weakened. Eventually (long after Bush leaves office) somebody is going to have to suffer the consequence of a half trillion dollar deficit. It might be us or our children, but eventually we will not be able to ignore it.
Formerly frum – what I’m saying is, that Govt. should be there to help bail out people that have paid into the system and (which was the original thought behind welfare). I do know MANY blue collar workers and do not agree with these jobs being shipped overseas. As a matter of fact there are certain companies I will no longer buy from (i.e. Dell) because of their outsourcing.
Yeah, I hate when I have to talk to India to get my internet running!
Anonymous Says:
comments – arrow Formerly frum – what I’m saying is, that Govt. should be there to help bail out people that have paid into the system and (which was the original thought behind welfare). I do know MANY blue collar workers and do not agree with these jobs being shipped overseas. As a matter of fact there are certain companies I will no longer buy from (i.e. Dell) because of their outsourcing.
09-15-2008 – 4:25 PM
then maybe we agree all i said was to the community here I hope they have the same out cry when blue collar workers lose there jobs and what to do should apply to both workers equally whether to bail or not to bail.
However, for long term health of our economic system I think we need to let these companies suffer the consequences, so companies do not do the same stupid thing again. If the government bails them out, why wouldn’t firms do the same thing again, thinking if I mess up what is the big deal the government will bail me out.
In addition, just because these companies firms go under other firms will need to take up the slack, and create the need to hire many of the people who lost their jobs. However, when they blue collar worker lose a job because they shipped it out of the country, they jobs are lost forever.
People are people and white collar people are not better than blue collar people and the same logic should apply to save jobs or not.