Hank Paulson's decision in September 2008 not to rescue Lehman Brothers was an act of economic terrorism, as bad as Bin Laden's attack on the US on September 11th, 2001.
With this act of economic terrorism, Paulson wiped out the savings of millions of Americans who lost billions in the stock market crash that ensued and cost millions of Americans their jobs as employers panicked and starting laying people off.
As a result of this horrible and completely nonsensical decision, credit locked up and nobody was able to get a loan for a period of time among many other things.
What was Paulson thinking? Did he realize that his job was to protect the US economy at all costs?
Bernanke and Geithner were no better. They could have stopped Paulson from commiting this act of economic terrorism, but they stood idly by and went along with an economic terrorist.
When Paulson says he couldnt help Lehman the way he did Bear Stearns because there was no buyer, he is lying. There was a buyer in Barclay's who Paulson pushed away because he wouldnt have the US government guarantee their toxic assets.
We got through many crisis' in the past, the S&L crisis of the 80's, the Asian Crisis and the late 1990's, yet we couldnt get through this crisis because of a non-sensical decision of one man who ruined a lot of lives and the US economy.
Rot in hell Hank Paulson.