Ping!
What happened? Was it death by natural causes, or was it, as some suspect, murder? More than a few veteran Wall Streeters believe an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission will uncover evidence that Bear was the victim of a gigantic “bear raid”—that is, a malicious attack brought by so-called short-sellers, the vultures of Wall Street, who make bets that a firm’s stock will go down. It’s a surprisingly difficult theory to prove, and nothing short of government subpoenas is likely to do it. Faced with a thicket of lawsuits and federal investigations, not a soul in Bear’s boardroom will speak for the record, but on background, a few are finally ready to name names.Bear Stearns was running one of the worst of the mortgage mills in history (EMC Mortgage). They intentionally defrauded hundreds of thousands of people with deceptive mortgages. Then they sold and resold and resold the same toxic paper via CDOs to pension funds, corporations and foreign investors. All in the name of greed.“I don’t know of any firm, no matter the capital, that could have withstood that kind of bombardment by the shorts,” says a vice-chairman of another major investment bank. “This was not about capital. It was about people losing confidence, spurred on by rumors fueled by people who had an interest in the fall of Bear Stearns.”
He pauses to let the idea sink in. “If I had to pick the biggest financial crime ever perpetuated,” he concludes, “I would say, ‘Bear Stearns.’ ”
I say, "Bear deserved to get taken apart like this. Screw them em all."
This situation is going to get very hairy. It will devolve a little more, then a little more as time goes by