Picture of the Day: 10 Largest U.S. Bankruptcies

In an attempt to put the current financial crisis into perspective, Chart of the Day offered the fascinating chart below.

click to enlarge

Source: Chart of the Day

As illustrated, the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers dwarfs all previous U.S. bankruptcies.  From Chart of the Day:

The US government has taken the approach that some companies are ‘too big to fail’ as failure could have devastating systemic effects. In the case of Lehman Brothers, however, the bar as to what is too big has been raised - considerably.

Related article:

• The Lehman Brothers Effect

Comments

[whidbey:]

Do you have a point? All citizens and corporations have a legal right to bankruptcy. The so-called "too big to fail" status is just a test of the implications of failure, not right or wrong. LEH failed in large measure because it was run by crooks who took chances and lost, but if they had not been able to enter bankruptcy no one would have gotten anything, and still may not get much. Your point may be that the social costs are not equal the social benefits. Orderly dissolution -regardless of size - is to be preferred over train wrecks, don't you agree?

2008 Sep 24 12:18 PM

[sumosama:]

Ahhh, as a bank (admittedly an I Bank) of COURSE their pre BKP asset base was huge!

2008 Sep 25 01:07 PM