money.cnn.com— Failings by Lehman executives and its auditor led to the collapse of the bank which unleashed the worst of the financial crisis, according to a report by a U.S. bankruptcy court-appointed examiner.
Mar 12, 2010View in Crawl 4
Clearly there was something wrong at Lehman, but this article is terrible. I like how the writer pushes the damning quote under the headline "Where are they now?"""Our opinion indicated that Lehman's financial statements for that year were fairly presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles [GAAP] and we remain of that view," he said.""He said" really?. By "He said" you mean what is in the auditors report almost a year before the the chapter 11 filing and two quarters before this suspect transaction. WTF? How can a writer for CNN Money be allowed to blatantly misconstrue the chronological order of events and make it seem like he got a quote when it is just pulling from the company's SEC filings.
Such nonsense. The collapse wasn't brought about by Lehman, the collapse was brought about by the bad loans themselves. There is no way you can stop a problem that big. All those defaults where the problem at Lehman, and THEY made the mistake of getting in that market.
Anyone interested in understanding the depth and scale of the issue, check out the link here, at the end of the analysis are straight forward well researched reports by Prof. Gary Gorton:<a class="user" href="http://www.zerohedge.com/article/gary-gorton-shadow-banking-system-run-and-interplay-shadow-and-traditional-banking" rel="nofollow">http://www.zerohedge.com/article/gary-gorton-shado ...</a>When you finish reading ask some simple questions: how did the 30 year old 'repo' market escape regulator, academic and professional analysis (i.e. auditors/economists) globally? How come no Nation can say what its banks 'repo' exposure is - even today? And, specifically for this case, given the 'repo' bomb landed August 2007 (and was on radar to all insiders in that market at that time - as evidenced by huge spread changes): how can any insider (repo trader), executive or auditor claim ignorance for the 2008 Leham implosion?Lehamn did not create the crisis, sub-prime did not create the crisis and most of the banks that went 'underwater' did so as a result of the crisis (again, they did not engineer their own demise). What all parties did do (including regulators, auditors, economists, politicians, et al) is fail to understand systemic risk within a complex and global counter-party system.When the risks were so large they could not be ignored, all parties made attempts to correct the position - some by taking more risk (looking for the big win to save the day), others via more prudent measures (probably because they just happened to have the resources to do so at the time the bomb went off: more luck than management). All parties involved lied (black, grey and all other shades are all still lies) to the same scale as the problem: globally. Why? Otherwise what started as an institutional (internal) bank run would have quickly become a high-street bank run (doubling the problem).The sad fact many will not accept until it is way to late is that there is no 'fix'. The system is diseased at it roots (and we know what that means for even the biggest tree). The system will take out everything in it, associated with it and most things around it when the unavoidable 'timbeeeer' shout goes out.Planting another 'seedling' system after the event will be futile. Action is needed now to allow the 'seedling' system to mature and provide a measure of safety. Simplistic blame-game headlines and political sound-bites should be consigned to history.As Prof. Gorton points out - Federal Depository insurance was also fought against by banks, economists, auditors, regulators and politics of the day. It was finally instituted from the demands of the life blood of the system: we the people.
F-you Lehman! Take responsibility for your actions! Funny if I were to rob a bank, you white collar jerks would be making sure that the fullest extent of the laws were used to punish and incarcerate me. BUT!!!! You guys screw up the world's economy and pull millions of people down the economic ladder all for the sake of your GREED and it's all good because you can say "Hey, it wasn't me, to talk to the accountants or auditors or whoever else we think we can shift the blame to. Oh, and thanks American taxpayers for my FAT bonuses this year! Good luck living off welfare and food stamps."
austin63Mar 12, 2010
Clearly there was something wrong at Lehman, but this article is terrible. I like how the writer pushes the damning quote under the headline "Where are they now?"""Our opinion indicated that Lehman's financial statements for that year were fairly presented in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles [GAAP] and we remain of that view," he said.""He said" really?. By "He said" you mean what is in the auditors report almost a year before the the chapter 11 filing and two quarters before this suspect transaction. WTF? How can a writer for CNN Money be allowed to blatantly misconstrue the chronological order of events and make it seem like he got a quote when it is just pulling from the company's SEC filings.
errdayimhustlinMar 12, 2010
Such nonsense. The collapse wasn't brought about by Lehman, the collapse was brought about by the bad loans themselves. There is no way you can stop a problem that big. All those defaults where the problem at Lehman, and THEY made the mistake of getting in that market.
greenroom628Mar 12, 2010
file under "duh"...
joe8packMar 12, 2010
Anyone interested in understanding the depth and scale of the issue, check out the link here, at the end of the analysis are straight forward well researched reports by Prof. Gary Gorton:<a class="user" href="http://www.zerohedge.com/article/gary-gorton-shadow-banking-system-run-and-interplay-shadow-and-traditional-banking" rel="nofollow">http://www.zerohedge.com/article/gary-gorton-shado ...</a>When you finish reading ask some simple questions: how did the 30 year old 'repo' market escape regulator, academic and professional analysis (i.e. auditors/economists) globally? How come no Nation can say what its banks 'repo' exposure is - even today? And, specifically for this case, given the 'repo' bomb landed August 2007 (and was on radar to all insiders in that market at that time - as evidenced by huge spread changes): how can any insider (repo trader), executive or auditor claim ignorance for the 2008 Leham implosion?Lehamn did not create the crisis, sub-prime did not create the crisis and most of the banks that went 'underwater' did so as a result of the crisis (again, they did not engineer their own demise). What all parties did do (including regulators, auditors, economists, politicians, et al) is fail to understand systemic risk within a complex and global counter-party system.When the risks were so large they could not be ignored, all parties made attempts to correct the position - some by taking more risk (looking for the big win to save the day), others via more prudent measures (probably because they just happened to have the resources to do so at the time the bomb went off: more luck than management). All parties involved lied (black, grey and all other shades are all still lies) to the same scale as the problem: globally. Why? Otherwise what started as an institutional (internal) bank run would have quickly become a high-street bank run (doubling the problem).The sad fact many will not accept until it is way to late is that there is no 'fix'. The system is diseased at it roots (and we know what that means for even the biggest tree). The system will take out everything in it, associated with it and most things around it when the unavoidable 'timbeeeer' shout goes out.Planting another 'seedling' system after the event will be futile. Action is needed now to allow the 'seedling' system to mature and provide a measure of safety. Simplistic blame-game headlines and political sound-bites should be consigned to history.As Prof. Gorton points out - Federal Depository insurance was also fought against by banks, economists, auditors, regulators and politics of the day. It was finally instituted from the demands of the life blood of the system: we the people.
worldlybedouinMar 12, 2010
F-you Lehman! Take responsibility for your actions! Funny if I were to rob a bank, you white collar jerks would be making sure that the fullest extent of the laws were used to punish and incarcerate me. BUT!!!! You guys screw up the world's economy and pull millions of people down the economic ladder all for the sake of your GREED and it's all good because you can say "Hey, it wasn't me, to talk to the accountants or auditors or whoever else we think we can shift the blame to. Oh, and thanks American taxpayers for my FAT bonuses this year! Good luck living off welfare and food stamps."