Fed Holds Crisis Talks on Lehman With Top Bank Execs

Paulson & Co. say cash was to 'facilitate orderly wind-down' of trades, but questions persist

(NEWSER) - After refusing to bail out Lehman Brothers, the Federal Reserve funneled $87 billion to a subsidiary through JPMorgan Chase on Sept. 15, then another $51 billion the next day. The feds say they aimed to “facilitate an orderly wind-down” of Lehman’s broker-dealer operations, Andrew Ross Sorkin writes in the New York Times, but their changing explanations, and other issues, continue to muddy the waters. More»

Finance could take steps to mend the crisis of confidence

(NEWSER) - It’s easy to criticize Hank Paulson, writes Steven Pearlstein for the Washington Post—for not predicting the depth and breadth of the crisis as subprime mortgages went sour a year ago, for letting Lehman Brothers fail, or for taking his lead from the UK this weekend. But Paulson and others in the government have shown admirable leadership—"Wall Street, by contrast, has served up a nothing sandwich." More»

(NEWSER) - The financial world has been rocked to its foundations in a few short days, with a handful of men making momentous decisions. The Wall Street Journal outlines the key players.

• Henry Paulson. No Treasury chief has wielded such power. He decides whether big firms live or die via federal bailouts. Will his too-big-to-fail philosophy stand the test of time?
• John Thain. The Merrill Lynch CEO saw the writing on the wall for his own firm while working on the Lehman crisis. In less than 24 hours, he hammered out a deal to sell Merrill to Bank of America.

Lawmakers complain of lack of oversight, being left out of loop as feds commit billions

(NEWSER) - Like sports fans second-guessing officials’ calls, lawmakers are watching uneasily from the sidelines as Treasury and Federal Reserve officials pledge billions of taxpayer dollars to fight Wall Street’s meltdown, the Washington Post reports. And, while many in both parties have been convinced the moves were appropriate, they’re worried too few players—unelected, at that—have too much power. More»

11th-hour meeting exhausted all possible rescue options for investment firm

(NEWSER) - As the dust settles on Wall Street, details of the final frantic negotiations on Lehman Brothers reveal that Henry Paulson’s opposition to a government bailout ultimately sealed the investment bank’s fate, the Journal reports. Paulson summoned an emergency meeting of 30 Wall Street executives Friday to definitively state that taxpayer rescue wasn’t coming, and urged them to work on saving Lehman. More»