Bear Stearns committed suicide. The only way to save millions of investors — many having no dealings with Bear Stearns — from getting royally screwed to the tune of many many many billions of dollars, was to quickly announce a deal to sell it, BEFORE the Asian markets opened on the morning of Marhc 17. There were no other takers. I’m not interested in hearing any whining from any party about JPM having gotten a sweetheart deal from the Fed, unless that party can provide solid evidence that it made a viable competing offer to Bear and the Fed before noon on March 16.
I think you are right. As a matter of fact, if Lehman Brothers weren’t up to the same balance sheet mischief, they should have been first suitor. They earned their pole position in the Long Term Capital deal. However, my hunch is that when the weekend meeting happened, Dick Fuld reached into his pants pockets and all he could pull out was rabbit ears. Then, quietly asked for similar credit in order for him to back out of his own derivatives mess.