Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Send in the Keys: The Depression has Arrived

This is an interesting interview from early this morning with Bryan Marsal, CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings, who is unwinding Lehman Brothers ... especially at the 18 minute mark:

One of my partners said yesterday that we are going to call this phase the "extend and pretend" phase in our economy. Which is you extend someone's maturity - because they are going to default - and you pretend that business will come back or that leverage factor is going to come back.

Then we'll enter phase two, which he said is the request to extend or "amend".

Then "send". In other words send the keys.

That is the phases we are in right now. Everyone is trying to buy time, as opposed to dealing with the leverage, they are trying to buy time. Whether you are a banker or a company, they are all trying to buy time. I don't see the leverage coming back, and I don't see the consumption of good and services coming back.
Bryan Marsal, CEO of Lehman Brothers Holdings.

This applies to all kinds of debt - extend and pretend - that sounds like most of the residential loan modifications! But eventually many of those same loans will reach the "send" phase.

Link to Video

3 comments:

  1. I've been saying this since July 14th, 2007 , the beginning of the current depression (mark it in your calendar, the day bear stearns announced their first hedge fund had blown up, courtesy a margin call by JP Morganstein)

    that ultimately the PLAN HERE is for America to go into complete financial failure resulting in FEAT MAJORI and default.

    Default is the operative word for the next couple of years, but especially later this year (November) when the rest of the world repugnes the dollar as the international currency of trade because of American support for ISREAL which will NUKE Iran in October.

    You take a mortal man
    you put him in control
    watch him become a God

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Morgans greatest early power play was building the Titanic, inviting the wealthy men aboard that were resisting the Federal Reserve Act + WWI, then sinking her.

    Titanic sunk 1912
    Federal Reserve 1913

    They wasted no time. JP Morgan was a piece of work. He'd be proud to know Americans still to this day accept his central bank fraud.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmhtU4kFMgs

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous said...
    I've been saying this since July 14th, 2007 , the beginning of the current depression (mark it in your calendar, the day bear stearns announced their first hedge fund had blown up, courtesy a margin call by JP Morganstein)

    that ultimately the PLAN HERE is for America to go into complete financial failure resulting in FEAT MAJORI and default.

    Default is the operative word for the next couple of years, but especially later this year (November) when the rest of the world repugnes the dollar as the international currency of trade because of American support for ISREAL which will NUKE Iran in October.

    You take a mortal man
    you put him in control
    watch him become a God


    Nice to see you got it all figured out. Can I borrow your crystal ball.

    ReplyDelete

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