There are two excellent, long pieces in the Sunday Times:
• How Lehman Brothers Got Its Real Estate Fix: Many factors, of course, contributed to Lehman’s demise last fall. Near the end, it carried $25 billion in toxic residential mortgages. It was wildly overleveraged. And the federal government made the fateful decision not to rescue Lehman from its mistakes. But when real estate overheated in the years before Lehman’s implosion, Mr. Walsh made billions of dollars in loans and equity investments that also ultimately helped bring down the bank.
• After the Great Recession On April 14, President Obama gave a speech at Georgetown University, trying to explain why he was taking on so many economic issues so early in his administration. He argued that the country needed to break its bubble-and-bust cycle and cited the New Testament in calling for a new economic foundation for the nation. This foundation would be built on better schools, alternative energy, more affordable health care and a more regulated Wall Street, he said. Later that afternoon David Leonhardt sat down with the president to talk about how his agenda might change daily life in this country.
They are your weekend must read assignments . . .
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Sources:
How Lehman Brothers Got Its Real Estate Fix
Devin Leonard
NYT, May 2, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/business/03real.html
After the Great Recession
David Leonhardt
NYT, April 28, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03Obama-t.html
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