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They (the people at Bear) made bad decisions, and a lot of them - including some people I know - are materially poorer because of it. By materially poorer, I mean that they have lost the vast bulk of their personal assets - just went poof. There were lots of people (myself included) who saw the real estate price run-up as a bubble and figured it was just a matter of time before it burst. I didn't know which sector would blow first, but it was clear something would.
I had this conversation with other lawyers and consultants numerous times in the past couple of years. I'm old enough now to have been through three shakeouts, and each one was driven by pretty much the same thing - people thinking short-term, and trading current fees for future risk. In the late 80s and early 90s it was junk bonds (and to a lesser degree, real estate); in the early 00s it was tech stocks; and now it's subprime mortgages and pooled pass-through securities.
My point is that this stuff is cyclical, and there is always a shakeout. As I said, the people I know at Bear are taking a huge hit because of this. Other people are too. The question is whether there is anything to be done about it, and I remain to be convinced that this sort of phenomenon is either repealable, or if repealable, only through heavyhandedness that will stifle economic growth (and thus should be left alone).
I made my last post because you appear to be trying to "shape the battlefield" by establishing rules for argument here that favor your method of argumentation. That's why you keep saying i haven't answered you "credibly" or am "arrogant." I have said a number of times that I respect the passion you bring to this and the amount of work that you're willing to do, but -- it is massively unfair of you to expect everyone else to either do the same or be branded "not credible." I simply don't accept that I have to do things your way in order to be credible - I have neither the hours nor the inclination to spend my time hunting around the net for articles and blog posts to throw up there. As I said, this is a hobby. If it stops being interesting and begins to be work; if it stops being an amusement and becomes a source of stress, I'm simply going to stop. And I don't accept that you have either the right or the power to prescribe for me or anyone else what is "credible" or legitimate. Different people have different approaches to things, and different ways of seeing things, and your way isn't the only credible way. If you think that's a personal attack on you, well, I don't know what to say.
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