Two more banking institutions are in trouble, says this Wall Street Journal article today: Lehman Brothers, which lost out on a buyout once the federal government refused to back the sale with taxpayer money; and Merrill Lynch, which is being sold to Bank of America.
I don’t know much about each company, but I think it’s safe to assume that the mortgage crisis played a large part in their downfalls.
And really, why should the government bail out private businesses? They’re not bailing out our local retailers, that’s for sure. Yes, there is funding set aside for small business owners, but it’s usually startup money. The feds did “save” Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but I think that was to stave off a complete mortgage collapse.
With Lehman Bros. stock down to 17 cents, it might be a good stock to buy cheap in the hopes another financial institution buys it out!
