I’m on a conference call right now in which Fishman and a JPM guy are explaining what happened over the last few weeks.
I’m paraphrasing Fishman’s words...
1. WaMu was in a weakened condition, but looked like it may survive.
2. Fannie and Freddie smackdown a few weeks ago put all kinds of outside pressure on WaMu.
3. Fishman came in and put out that fire.
4. Then Lehman went BK, and that started to panic investors and depositors.
5. When bailout looke dlike it wasn’t going through, the OTS/FDIC stepped in and said, “enough”.