Posted by: Jeff Wieler
Comment: #2
Tue Mar 25, 2008 7:14 PM
The $30 billion guarantee isn't a bailout of Bear Stearns. It's a guarantee of some of the debt they left behind. That's completely different. You may not like Bear, but imagine a nasty bank that fails because it made dumb loans. Another bank comes in to take on the loans and pay off the depositors. All those little people who had money in the nasty bank were owed money by the bank. You aren't bailing out the nasty bank when you pay off the people who are owed money.
JPMorgan may be getting too good a deal, but that's another story. They're also taking on more than $80 billion in debt, and if the underlying assets aren't good (like overpriced condo's in Las Vegas), they could be wiped out the same way as Bear. JPM is being given protection, Bear isn't getting bailed.
The big shots at Bear Stearns are getting bupkes. If they had a million buck in BS stock a month ago, they're left with about enough money to buy a stripped down Ford. The people I feel sorry for are the clerks and secretaries at BS who probably had most of their retirement savings tied up in BS stock.
Please consult with a financial person before you write on subjects like this.... it's more complicated than it seems!
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