Uh oh.
The porkers over at Barclays Bank just pulled their snouts from deep in the Lehman corpse, and in some haste. In a trice, they've put their vests, bow ties, and cuff links back in place, raised their noses to a respectable elevation, and to everyone's surprise, after leading the pack in the race to get to Lehman's vital organs while they are yet warm, suddenly announced that they are not hungry at all. Not even peckish.
With a firm, "Good day!" they depart for distant shores.
How did they put it, when speaking to the assembled ladies and gentlemen whose confirmed vice is journalism? Here it is -- "while Lehman was attractive, the investment bank did not meet . . . Barclay's stringent requirements."
Meaning, the deal wasn't without risk. Meaning, the US Government didn't kick in, and agree to eat the garbage assets entire.
None of the players were even looking at the vivisection of Lehman Brothers in the first place except on the implicit understanding that the risk would be carried by the US taxpayer, now or later, by some means or other.
But the US Government didn't kick in.
The markets will soon be up and open in Asia, and Lehman Brothers is still facing collapse tomorrow morning, around 9 AM sharp. As of 4 PM EST, that is eleven hours from now.
How about that? The US Government didn't kick in.
They can't. Or, they won't. Could be either reason. But they didn't. That's new. They didn't kick in.
And if these next eleven hours bring no taxpayer bailout, then we will likely see no rescue of Lehman whatsoever, and this week will likely bring events as significant to American history as Black Friday or Pearl Harbor. Starting with an investment bank with $600 billion in play go right out of existence.
Once these bankers and speculators know that they are all on their own, they will bring out their dead, eat their young, rape the helpless, close the gates, burn the books, hide the seed corn, and settle down behind stone walls with a good book, a fireplace, and a goblet of something Napoleon left corked.
They'll be safe and comfortable, waiting for the rest of us to recover some assets worth stealing. Heaven knows, it will be a long while before it is worth venturing out to raid the peasants barns and homes again. Why, the poor sods will have to lie fallow for half a generation, at least, paying back all this debt.