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☖ Forums → Discussion Forum → The financial services sector is about to change entirely
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The financial services sector is about to change entirely
2008-09-14, 7:29 PM #1
Bear Stearns was bought by JP Morgan.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been taken over by the government.

Lehman Brothers is going to declare bankruptcy.

And it's just been announced that Merrill Lynch is going to be bought out by Bank of America for $44 billion.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122142278543033525.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=az3zSTZCZKG8&refer=home

This is total chaos! Only two of the five largest investment banks in 2007 are going to be still around (Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley). There's going to be blood on Wall Street, and who knows what the consequences will be for the U.S. economy...

What are your thoughts on how things are going? Stocking up canned food for recession time?
Cordially,
Lord Tiberius Grismath
1473 for '1337' posts.
2008-09-14, 7:37 PM #2
I really couldn't care less that investment banks are going belly up, in fact, I'm glad. **** em.
"it is time to get a credit card to complete my financial independance" — Tibby, Aug. 2009
2008-09-14, 7:37 PM #3
http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/theinternational/

:colbert:
[01:52] <~Nikumubeki> Because it's MBEGGAR BEGS LIKE A BEGONI.
2008-09-14, 7:39 PM #4
Freelancer, do you even know what investment banks do? They help businesses go public and acquire funds so they can grow. Are you against American businesses growing? Also, there are going to be a lot of job cuts. A lot of people are going to lose money and their livelihoods.

Although I was waiting for Lehman to get knocked out, this is getting really serious.
Cordially,
Lord Tiberius Grismath
1473 for '1337' posts.
2008-09-14, 7:41 PM #5
It's definitely getting interesting.

I just realized, though, that I work for Wachovia (technically Wachovia Securities) and, while I have heard all of this news (except the Bank of America / Merril Lynch merge) I'd never heard of Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, or Lehman Brothers, and to this day have no idea what they do :/

At least I work in the technology department and not actually in the banking/brokerage fields.
2008-09-14, 7:47 PM #6
Originally posted by FCTuner04:
It's definitely getting interesting.

I just realized, though, that I work for Wachovia (technically Wachovia Securities) and, while I have heard all of this news (except the Bank of America / Merril Lynch merge) I'd never heard of Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, or Lehman Brothers, and to this day have no idea what they do :/

At least I work in the technology department and not actually in the banking/brokerage fields.


Bear Stearns was the fifth largest U.S. investment bank. Lehman Brothers was the fourth largest. Merrill Lynch was the third largest.

They also do a variety of other financial functions, like brokerage (bringing buyers and sellers of securities like stocks together), trading (buying and selling securities for themselves), wealth management, etc.

Analysts from the banks review financial statements and performance of firms and their evaluations and reports help drive market prices for companies' stock.

Freddie Mac turned home mortgages into securities you can buy and sell. So banks can get immediate returns on mortgages and pass them on to someone else willing to take the risks associated with mortgages instead of having to wait thirty or more years.
Cordially,
Lord Tiberius Grismath
1473 for '1337' posts.
2008-09-14, 8:18 PM #7
Originally posted by Lord_Grismath:
Bear Stearns was the fifth largest U.S. investment bank. Lehman Brothers was the fourth largest. Merrill Lynch was the third largest.

They also do a variety of other financial functions, like brokerage (bringing buyers and sellers of securities like stocks together), trading (buying and selling securities for themselves), wealth management, etc.

Analysts from the banks review financial statements and performance of firms and their evaluations and reports help drive market prices for companies' stock.

Freddie Mac turned home mortgages into securities you can buy and sell. So banks can get immediate returns on mortgages and pass them on to someone else willing to take the risks associated with mortgages instead of having to wait thirty or more years.


Didn't anticipate someone explaining them to me! Thanks!
2008-09-14, 8:31 PM #8
Me? I'm going to Finland.
2008-09-14, 8:46 PM #9
Us government employee. Steady, solid, garunteed income, and thrift savings plan. I'm not worried... unless the government collapses.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Lassev: I guess there was something captivating in savagery, because I liked it.
2008-09-14, 9:14 PM #10
Well I'm in the newspaper business. Nothing can possibly go wrong there. Right? Right guys? Guys?
"Your entire base belongs to us."
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2008-09-14, 9:14 PM #11
Same. But it's possible.

And, thankfully, there are laws governing mortgages now, so you don't lose your house if the company that gave you credit goes belly up.
2008-09-14, 9:18 PM #12
I pledge my allegiance to the Mega-corps.

I may despise their very existence, fear their lack of moral accountability, dread the devaluation of human life they will bring about...

but I'm working for one, and it looks like it has my back during these tough times.

So WHEN the US economy tanks, I just hope and pray I'm useful enough to my mega-corp for them to take me with as they relocate to their secret skull-shaped island in the pacific.
"Well, if I am not drunk, I am mad, but I trust I can behave like a gentleman in either
condition."... G. K. Chesterton

“questions are a burden to others; answers a prison for oneself”
2008-09-15, 2:06 AM #13
Originally posted by Freelancer:
I really couldn't care less that investment banks are going belly up, in fact, I'm glad. **** em.


INDEED YES I DO AGREE SIR
Code:
if(getThingFlags(source) & 0x8){
  do her}
elseif(getThingFlags(source) & 0x4){
  do other babe}
else{
  do a dude}
2008-09-15, 2:27 AM #14
just goes to show a lot of ibanking firms hire ****ing idiots.
2008-09-15, 5:54 AM #15
Originally posted by Freelancer:
I really couldn't care less that investment banks are going belly up, in fact, I'm glad. **** em.


I see you are a shoebox investor.
:master::master::master:
2008-09-15, 7:32 PM #16
I'm more someone who would enjoy watching a dystopia unfold.
"it is time to get a credit card to complete my financial independance" — Tibby, Aug. 2009
2008-09-15, 7:48 PM #17
This makes me happy I picked charles and schwab instead of merryl lynch as my investing company.

Then again I only have a few k to play with.
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2008-09-16, 1:01 PM #18
Originally posted by Freelancer:
I'm more someone who would enjoy watching a dystopia unfold.


Have you seen a therapist? I think you might be a genuine sociopath. It's okay, it happens to most of the guys who never got talked to by any of the girls in sunday school. I bet you never even went to stake dances.

It's rough man, but you don't have to rid yourself of empathy and wish for the deaths of millions.
Epstein didn't kill himself.
2008-09-16, 1:40 PM #19
...Have you just noticed that Free is a horrible human being?
nope.
2008-09-16, 2:00 PM #20
Originally posted by Spook:
It's rough man, but you don't have to rid yourself of empathy and wish for the deaths of millions.


Empathy? You can't rid yourself of what you've never received. Besides, I'm not exactly wishing for the deaths of millions, I just think it would be interesting.
"it is time to get a credit card to complete my financial independance" — Tibby, Aug. 2009
2008-09-16, 2:02 PM #21
Interesting in the way that "Oh, I've just been stabbed; what an intense new feeling." is interesting?
nope.
2008-09-16, 2:06 PM #22
Well, it'd have to be a future where people are looting and pillaging and putting resistance forces together to kick the asses of the people who got us into the mess, unlike the Great Depression where people just sort of sat around, docile. That would be interesting in the way that anarchy is more interesting than our current boring environment.
"it is time to get a credit card to complete my financial independance" — Tibby, Aug. 2009
2008-09-16, 2:19 PM #23
So essentially you want a Mel Gibson movie from the 80s?
nope.
2008-09-16, 2:23 PM #24
This is all disconcerting to me.

Also, I hope Free is never in a position of power.
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2008-09-16, 2:26 PM #25
Originally posted by Baconfish:
So essentially you want a Mel Gibson movie from the 80s?


Only if it involves giant lizards from Mars wreaking havoc...
The cake is a lie... THE CAKE IS A LIE!!!!!
2008-09-16, 2:31 PM #26
Free has the right idea. We can't do a damn thing to stop it, might as well enjoy it.
2008-09-16, 2:41 PM #27
Originally posted by Gebohq:
This is all disconcerting to me.

Also, I hope Free is never in a position of power.


Why? Because I wouldn't take our record-debt-and-deficit government and try to take on two failing mega-conglomerates? That's like trying to catch two freefalling boulders on the end of a diving board.
"it is time to get a credit card to complete my financial independance" — Tibby, Aug. 2009
2008-09-16, 2:57 PM #28
No, Free, because you seem to want a post-apocalyptic world a little too much.
The Plothole: a home for amateur, inclusive, collaborative stories
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2008-09-16, 3:01 PM #29
It's one thing to consider such a world interesting when you have nothing to lose; it's quite another when you have a lot to lose. If I was in a position of power, I'd probably want to keep it. But then again, there are surely those in secretive positions of power who might benefit from such a world.
"it is time to get a credit card to complete my financial independance" — Tibby, Aug. 2009
2008-09-16, 3:16 PM #30
Meh, I'd be game for an apocalypse, but I doubt it'll happen.
"If you watch television news, you will know less about the world than if you just drink gin straight out of the bottle."
--Garrison Keillor
2008-09-16, 3:56 PM #31
I'd be interested in seeing just what rises from the ashes of this "post-apocalypse"...
<Rob> This is internet.
<Rob> Nothing costs money if I don't want it to.
2008-09-16, 4:02 PM #32
It's interesting in a sort of American-couch-potato-scifi-induced way. It's also extremely hypocritical and shows complete ignorance of the financial system of the country you live in.
Dreams of a dreamer from afar to a fardreamer.
2008-09-16, 5:13 PM #33
More importantly, JBOB SIGHTING.
COUCHMAN IS BACK BABY
2008-09-16, 5:19 PM #34
Wrong thread, Tracer. :P
The Plothole: a home for amateur, inclusive, collaborative stories
http://forums.theplothole.net
2008-09-16, 5:24 PM #35
Originally posted by fishstickz:
Meh, I'd be game for an apocalypse, but I doubt it'll happen.


This.
2008-09-16, 5:33 PM #36
And the Feds make their move for AIG: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/17/business/17insure.php
2008-09-16, 5:56 PM #37
Don't worry, Free would never be in a position of power.

He could find places that fit perfectly his description of, how you say, "good time", but he does not seek them out. Why would he seek out power?
Epstein didn't kill himself.
2008-09-16, 6:08 PM #38
Exactly. He who seeks out power doesn't deserve to wield it. So I've never sought it. Take a cue from Cincinnatus.
"it is time to get a credit card to complete my financial independance" — Tibby, Aug. 2009
2008-09-16, 6:23 PM #39
So, we should only elect the unwilling?
the idiot is the person who follows the idiot and your not following me your insulting me your following the path of a idiot so that makes you the idiot - LC Tusken
2008-09-16, 7:18 PM #40
What does a city in ohio have to do with anything?
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.

Lassev: I guess there was something captivating in savagery, because I liked it.
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