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All the more frightening that Bernanke is wasting unbelievable amounts of rate & treasury ammo, defending doomed outposts, and he will be powerless when the real citadels will collapse (think Citigroup, largest bank of the free world ™ by balance sheet).

The guy may have done a lot of econometrics, but he has never read sun tzu.

Pierre

by Pierre on Tue Mar 18th, 2008 at 11:04:34 AM EST
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I keep hearing hints that Citibank probably isn't worth defending, apart from a purely symbolic effort.

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears you out.
by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Mar 18th, 2008 at 11:10:57 AM EST
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It appears JP Morgan was interested in buying Bear Stearns primarily because of its prime brokerage business. Should (say) Lehman Brothers fail we'd be talking some serious investment banking (Lehman Brothers is the largest underwriter of mortgage-backed securities), but again still not retail or commercial banking which are the sectors that, if they fail, can send the economy into depression all by themselves.

It'd be nice if the battle were only against the right wingers, not half of the left on top of that — François in Paris
by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Mar 18th, 2008 at 11:14:10 AM EST
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