The failure of Lehman Brothers and the decision to let the venerable investment bank go down will be debated for decades. With most analysts, pundits, and investors focused on subprime mortgages, toxic securities, and finance executive compensation, the few eyes on Lehman have been concentrated on its now notorious CEO, Dick Fuld. But there is a bigger story that will emerge as the dust settles and that is: why was Lehman allowed to fail and who, exactly, pushed for its demise? What were the motivations? Did the people involved understand what they were doing and the ramifications, or was it so much being willing to kill another goose to save their own goose with catastrophic consequences? Only Vicky Ward, insider journalist, Vanity Fair writer, and London Evening Standard columnist has access to the key players and an understanding of the world of finance to uncover just what happened the weekend of September 14, and the terrible consequences. Its not so much that the shareholders were wiped out, or even the debt holders, but the cascading impact as countless clients and counterparties were stiffed that led to the ensuing chaos from which the world still suffers. How did this all happen while Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns, AIG, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac, to name a few, were saved? Why was IndyMac protected and WaMu pushed into the arms of Chase, but Lehman allowed to blow up? Vicky Ward shows readers inside the rarefied air of Wall Street where even top CEOs are often left gasping for air amid the high stakes world of finance survival. From wedding parties to conferences where the players who you thought were there, werent - Ward uncovers what happened that fateful weekend and in the years leading up to the credit crisis. She unmasks the real players, and uncovers their motivations to show a world where the so-called bad guys may not be so bad after all and the white knights may not be as pristine as we thought.
