Lehman & Repo 105 = Goldman & Greece: The Global Finance System Has Irreversibly Failed

[Bozita]

Lehman & Repo 105 = Goldman & Greece: The Global Finance System Has Irreversibly Failed

The Wall St Party Never Ends ...
Welcome to the Lost Decades. Credit: DPStyles.

Even for freaks like us, a nine-volume, 2200 page report – like the one analyzing the Black September 2008 collapse of Lehman Bros, compiled under the direction of court-appointed Bankruptcy Trustee Anton Valukas, former Federal prosecutor & chair of the Chicago corporate law firm Jenner & Block – is a bit much to swallow in one bite.

Wall Street Party Never Ends

Especially when media from all over the world – not just the US, but notably Britain, where, interestingly enough, several crucial “evaluative decisions” in the Lehman case were made – are frothing at the mouth attempting to make sense of it for their various, often niche, readers.

So though it’s going to take a bit until every juicy morsel can be fully digested, certain facets of the situation have already become painfully evident, while one aspect – so glaringly obvious to us we couldn’t believe it didn’t come up anywhere in a Google © search conducted around 2 am Monday morning Singapore time – seems to have escaped everyone’s attention.

more, lots more...
http://www.economywatch.com/economy-business-and-finance-news/lehman-repo-105-goldman-greece-global-financial-system-has-irreversibly-failed-15-03.html/

[Hawkowl]

1. This is why Obama's economy is failing

This is article is well worth reading. The world is heading for another financial meltdown and with each successive crisis, the world's governments have less space to maneuver and the odds of a catastrophic collapse increase.

If we don't fix the system, it will fix us.

[JDPriestly]

2. The problem is the disparity between rich and poor.

When the poor don't have enough to spend, there is not enough demand to enable the rich to put their money to work and earn profits from it.

Ironically, when the balance between the incomes of the wealthy and those of the middle class and poor is thrown off, we have an economic crisis. It often happens after we get a new technology. A few people become very rich from the technology, and when the technology is first being developed and disseminated, it produces lots of jobs.

Once the initial demand for workers slows down, we get unemployment followed by loss in purchasing demand -- and then decline in meaningful, profitable investment -- and depression.

Obama and Bernanke covered systemic problems in the financial sector with a bandaid and called it recovery. The real depression is yet to come.

Until we bring equilibrium back into our economy, we cannot have prosperity.

[Ghost Dog]

3. The point is, this is over 1 year old and indeed nothing has been done to reform financial systems.

As the OP quoted concludes:


Under the heading, Outrage Over Valukas Report Should Shake Wall Street to the Core, one writer argues:

Bankruptcy examiner Anton Valukas's 2,200 page report detailing how and why Lehman Brothers collapsed is so damning that it should be a turning point in financial history.

Whether it amounts to more than a footnote will be up to the lawmakers who have managed to delay reform of the financial markets.

If this report isn't enough to compel them to take action, nothing will.

Or as the New York Times puts it,

...

If the Valukas report is not a wake-up call, what would be?

Well, dudes, we’re going to find out, aren’t we ???

Our feeling is that, in fact, this WON’T change anything, and the global crisis – which would be ridiculous if it weren’t so vitally important for the whole world – is simply going to enter yet another bizarre stage where everyone involved appears, and is, more venal than was previously imagined.

Welcome to the Lost Decades.