Panic, greed good
Posted by Ron Coleman on September 17, 2008
Stronger-than-expected earnings from Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley Tuesday failed to reassure investors who staged a run on Bear Stearns in March and drove Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc LEH.P into bankruptcy Monday.
And despite assurances from Goldman and Morgan Stanley — the two remaining major investment banks — that they had ample cash and capital, investors fled.
Good old “investors.” Well, those are not investors, actually; they are speculators.
What a grand time to buy Goldman Sachs! Morgan Stanley I don’t know from, but Goldman? Gold, man. For the medium run, and the long haul of course too. (Update: A-yup!)
Now as to the likes of Lehman Brothers? The obvious question is whether the trustee in bankruptcy is going to take a harsh look at those massive “performance bonuses” I-bankers get over the last few years and politely ask for that money back.
Or not so politely.
Why not?
jaymaster said
I generally despise lawyers. But probably 50% of those I’ve met actually provide a valuable and honest (pretty much) service. And those, at least, earn their money.
But I have never met a single investment banker who honestly earned his salary (let along his bonus). They might have served their purpose 100 or 50 or 20 years ago. But lately, they’re nothing more than a parasitic anachronism.
Like the MSM, IMO, they’re another victim of the internet. It’s made an end around their control of financial information and funding choke points.
I’m not sad to see them go.
James H said
There’s some buzzing about how this may affect attorneys, too. A mailing list I subscribe to notes that with financial companies collapsing, white-shoe law firms are losing some of their top clients … and leftover clients are going to be much more alert about cutting legal costs. Which is not a good thing.