Mainstreet on Bailout
If MSM reactions are anything to go by, the House has taken a severe beating for failing to pass Paulson’s bailout plan. However, ‘blog chatters’ – dismissed by an assortment of self-styled pundits – seem to tell a different story. Money quote this comment at FT Gideon Rachman’s blog:
[T]his is no longer about a bailout. This is about $3 ATM fees, getting charged $5 for using your credit card in Mexico, and a whole host of other things Americans are upset with their banks about. This is about people being irrationally mad at “Corporate America”. I saw one poll that said a majority would prefer a deep recession (51%) as opposed to this bailout. I don’t think anyone cares about the Dow falling 800 points. It is inconsequential to the average American. They want their pound of flesh. They have tasted blood and will not allow anything similar to this plan to pass.
Elegy for Wall Street (as we know it)
It’s perhaps fitting that on the last summer day of 2008, the end of a swashbuckling Wall St era falls on a day when New Yorkers bid farewell to Yankee Stadium. The latter’s planned demise marks the untimely death of standalone investment banking all the more poignant, and prompts many a soul-searching moment: is it the beginning of the end for New York as we know it?
Of course, any self-respecting New Yorker would shoot down the idea in no time. But changes … they are a-comin’. Perhaps all the doom-and-gloom is really a blessing in disguise lest the latte-sipping, arugula-munching city sophisticates go over the cliff over Sarah Palin.
The Week in Review
In honor of the historical week that has changed the landscape on Wall Street, here’s a recap (courtesy of Reuters).
Friday September 12 – NY Fed president Timothy Geithner convenes an emergency meeting with Treasury Department officials and top executives at all the major Wall Street banks over Lehman rescue.
Saturday September 13 – While discussions over Lehman continue at the NY Fed’s Lower Manhattan building, AIG begins talks to regulators over its survival.
Sunday September 14 – Lehman finds no buyer but a group of 10 global banks and securities firms form a $70 billion loan program to help ease a credit shortage.
Stop the Press: LEH Gone
We could be forgiven for sounding a bit elegiac but this just came in over the wire: NYSE suspends trading in Lehman Brothers share.
NEW YORK, Sept 17 (Reuters) – The New York Stock Exchange’s regulatory arm said on Wednesday that trading in shares of Lehman Brothers Holdings, Inc has been suspended, effective immediately.
The exchange said that a listing was no longer considered suitable after the investment bank filed for bankruptcy on Monday.
Political Nexus of the Fallen
If anything, the glee of a sewing circle over the paroxysms underway in the financial market presents a splendid bit of irony in an otherwise tumultuous week.
On the heels of de facto nationalization of Fannie and Freddie, venerable Lehman Brothers fell on its sword, dying an ignominious death, followed by an eleventh-hour rescue of AIG that “brings on bloodbath”, as investors fear more shoes may drop.
Mind you, this is an election year. The “bewildered” candidates offered standard boilerplate responses. While partisans are parsing whether the economy is “fundamentally strong”, political junkies dig the piles and uncover some interesting factoids.
Chase Credit Card Woes
Last week Bob Garfield hung up his boots after an 11-long months of crusading against Comcast. In the interim, many thousands “angry, mistreated” customers have visited the site to voice their grievances. Now their efforts appear to bear fruit: Griping Online? Comcast Hears and Talks Back.
Besides cable providers, credit card companies also deserve a place in the pantheon of abusive customer service. And we’ve had our fair share of woes with Chase credit card, part of JP Morgan Chase.
If you google “complaints about Chase credit card”, you’ll get hundreds of thousands of results, with the most recent ones dated yesterday. Which makes you wonder: Is Chase listening at all to those complaints or is it business as usual? If our experience today is any guide, the answer might be the latter.
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