I couldn’t help but feel a little smug throughout 2008 when I read the reports of hysterical investment bankers as they tried to convince federal regulators to clamp down on short selling.
The real estate market had finally crashed with a vengeance and the banks were left holding far too many derivatives based on sub-prime mortgages, particularly at Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, the weakest of the big five Wall Street firms, none of which survived the year.
After a while, it became predictable, their pleas for intervention.
