Instead, I talked last month with Bryan Marsal, of Alvarez & Marsal, who led Lehman for the three years after its bankruptcy. I asked Mr. Marsal why Lehman was allowed to fail and what lessons were learned. It seems Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke grabbed control of the bus from Mr. Paulson after the almost instant contagion and carnage from the Lehman bankruptcy. Today there is nothing stopping the political and the personal from trumping rational economic decision-making in the next crisis. Unable to get their Lehman money, funds and individual investors sold anything liquid to have working capital and pay off debt.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 09, 2018 20:15 UTC