R.I.P: More Wall Street Firms Go Bust

If you read me, you know that I have been screaming about the financial markets and all the debt that is being used to prop them up. Everyone kept telling me that I was being a “negative nelly” because I have been complaining that the unprecedented use of debt instruments was unsustainable. Every day we hear about more financial institutions who have bitten off more debt than they can chew; today we lost two more, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

Now I think it is particularly ironic that the Republican’s own economic policies have fed upon themselves. 168 yr old Lehman Brothers, one of the hallmarks of Wall Street has crumbled under the weight of the debt driven economy. Merrill Lynch skirted the same fate by selling itself to Bank of America. The venerable bull got beaten by its own financial bull$#!%.

Citizens and businesses alike have been turning to the government for bailouts. Today, the government drew a line in the sand and refused to bailout Lehman. American International Group (AIG) is begging to borrow $40,000,000,000 and other institutions are quietly shopping themselves to foreign investors. For the umpteenth time this year, the Fed has increased the amount it will lend to financial institutions. I am concerned about how much the government has borrowed this year, at least $1,000,000,000,000, for bailouts, the Iraq War and the 2008 budget shortfall. There is plenty more nasty financial news to come, Citizens. Prepare Yourselves!