How the Lehman Collapse Made Me Thankful - Part 2 Written By: David Neubert 2008-09-19 17:24:02 This is a reposting of an article from earlier today including a tragedy that gave me true perspective (the humble perspective is at the end):
Personally, and for my net worth, I'm disappointed that Lehman (LEH, LEHPQ - $0.30) didn't get rescued. As an ex-employee and shareholder I would have liked some of the public money Ms. Roberts mentions being thrown around for Lehman. It was the last place I worked and hit me hard. But that is selfish (like most finance people rescued care of the public coffers).
I still think the fact that John Thain got to look at the firm's books and still wanted the job means that there is probably no huge surprise write down coming. Remember, this guy grew up at Goldman as a mortgage trader and knows all the trader tricks for hiding losses in a mortgage/CDO trading book.
However the market is still pricing in more negative surprises, so that means MER cheap here. I've decided it will likely get cheaper so I'll be greedy. After putting my toe in the water and buying the first part of building a position on his announcement I've decided to hold off on adding more.
The Real Message Behind the Bailouts Written By: Jeanne Roberts 2008-09-17 12:54:23 Photo: wallyg, Creative Commons, Flickr
There’s a message behind the recent bailouts, but it isn’t what you think.
