madasiwannabe

What Happened to the Fed's $1.816 Trillion Lifeline?

The damage was already done to both of these guys months ago. The shorts were already bought into both WB and WM long before the ban. What finally brought them down was long selling due to lack of confidence and fear.

It wasn't a secret that both of these guys were bloated with loan portfolio's in the two hardest hit areas, Florida and California. Once WM fell, it was only a matter of time before WB followed.

Moody's, Fitch, S&P, SEC Are All Useless

The credit rating agencies are all masters of the obvious. Downgrading a company after it falls says it all. Where were they 6 months ago when the market figured it out.

SEC is very good at sitting on their hands. Naked shorts are not killing stocks, bad policy and greedy companys are. As you alluded to, LEH was a victim of long selling, not short. Also include Paulson's confidence building backstop scheme. All it really did was make everyone question the real health of the market. You know it's time to worry when everyone tells you not to.