Bear Sterns should just use their initials from now on to convey what they have always been about B.S.
I feel sorry for these employees that got suckered into buying company stocks as part of their 401K benefits by upper management and then lose it all. Just like the poor Countrywide employees that lost their 401K company stcok retirement after their CEO Angelo cashed in. Like Angelo Mozillo, the BS executive crooks need to face jail time.
To offer a 100% stated income loan for a w’2 employee was the most ridiculous thing any lender can do. They knew these were fraud loans and turned a blind eye. We need an overhaul of corporate America and start fining top execs at Merryl and Goldman for being part of this global conspiracy to defraud honest investors into purchasing fraudalent loans and rating them A paper and causing the massive foreclosures created by them. The average Joe is clueless about what these big lenders did and thats the way they like it because they know a revolution will follow and their heads will roll.
What a joke. Put them all in jail!

I was not a bit surprised by Bear Sterns going down. However, two years ago I was surprised when I heard Bear Sterns was offering 100% financing, Negative amortized loans for Sub-prime borrowers.

It’s easy to stereotype all 14k+ employees of Bear as the greedy and amoral baddies. Most of the employees are 9 to 5 rank and filers that show up to do the job asked of them with professionalism and pride. It’s a typical bank set up where the top 10% profits most and the rest shares the scraps left over. Overnight these good people lost their investment in the company, their jobs, their pride being associated with a great firm and so much more.
I have a treasured copy of Ace Greenberg’s Memos from the Chairman which reminded me of what the company once represented; meritocracy, parsimony, common goals/mission, smart risk controls, & taking care of the shareholders/employees. Sad to say, this spunky independent bank is now history.
My heart and prayers goes out to all the Bear employees and their families.

I work for Bear Stearns. I would like to know how a p and s clerk, a messenger, a secretary, etc. can be considered part of the Greed.
Decisions are made by a few and effect all. Innocent people will be out of work and some will suffer greatly. No one should think they are above this or that it can’t happen to them We didn’t think this could happen to us. We are people with families, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters trying to make ends meet.
I think that accounts for 90 percent of Bear. Maybe 10 percent have millions left. As for me, perhaps I will not have to forfeit my 401k to make ends meet and it is not because I do not have emergency funds.

People have forgotten the basic rules of life. 1. When it looks too good to be true, it is too good to be true.2. When there is doubt there is no doubt. 3. The Greed factor will always overcome intelligence. 4. You can never cheat an honest man,you can only bend him to your will temporarily 5.You reap what you sow.

Excellent response to JS, Bing. I’m glad I checked back for responses on this blog. Yesterday I took a 1/2 day for a Dr’s appointment. On the drive home, was listening to talk radio where the host lumped all employees of Bear together and completely railed on them. I called into the show and told the host it wasn’t fair to lump all employees together. Sure the CEO, Board and Mgrs of involved departments should be held accountable but the persons working a 9-5 in the transfer or settlements department, for example, deserve some sympathy. This guy started RAILING on me like there was no tomorrow. His arguement was that the employees took part in the profit during good times with bonuses and stock in their 401Ks so why should it be any different when the bad times come around? Um, because they are losing their regular income through no fault of their own? Then he says that prospective employees should research the companies that their getting jobs with to make sure they’re with solid companies and not work for ones that can go in the crapper. Um, didn’t BS have a pretty long, solid company history? This guy was spewing out **** so fast I could barely keep up (but I did counter his points), of course he called me bleeding heart liberal and all the like and turned it to personal attacks and then cut the call with me still saying, “no, no, no, no” trying to counter his point. After he cuts to traffic and break and comes back on, he says “I hope I wasn’t to hard on Jessica”.
Whatever. what a cold hearted, cruel loser.
JS, there are those that do work in the industry and understand. Our hearts go out to you.

PS, Yes Ken Lay is dead.

There has been some piling on here after the ball carrier was brought down. But it seems deserved.
The BS employees have to recall that it was the collapse of two BS hedge funds that signaled the meltdown was starting. BS was double speaking, if not lying, when it claimed the funds were “hedged” in the first place.
A competing magazine which I no longer read, opting to read Fortune instead, observed that capitalism is always tearing down and reinventing itself.
But it can be argued that the investment banking and private equity climate has been plundering and destroying the economic fabric of this now stressed nation. Countless good American jobs have been ruthlessly abolished by these amoral plunders who booked the cumulative employee losses into their own pockets.
It is ironic that the Fed Reserve and the administration, in effect, ruthlessly took out the shareholders who tolerated the greed at BS. I cannot see why BS shareholders should be angry, since the BS culture was even plundering and taking the revenues that were owned by the shareholders.
Stockholders should think twice about the cultures they buy into.

So what you are saying is ‘even jerks have mortgages’? Big deal. The NYT article sums is well.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/14/opinion/14brooks.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

I agree with you, JS of DFW. People have a lot of hostility built up, much of which is expressed on the internet, for some reason. In addition, a lot of folks have resentment against what they perceive to be rich fat cats making a bundle while America suffers. They don’t really see the reality — that big organizations employ a lot of people just like them, people with houses, mortgages, loans on cars, etc. They see “Wall Street” as some sort of monolithic entity, not a place made up mostly of individuals who support families, men and women trying to make a living and get home for dinner. We all need enemies. And empathy is in very short supply in our society right now for some reason.

The audacity of some people to have such biting remarks when they don’t even know the real problem. I work for Bear Stearns and it is NOT a greedy company who got what was coming to them. It’s corporate America people. Wall Street is feuled by greed and fear. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I believe it takes a pretty vindictive person to wish ill on such a well-respected company and its thousands of unassuming employees.

Isn”t Ken Lay dead?

They deserved what they got, the whole greedy buch of them. Frankly, I was getting tired of the wanna-be-gordon-gekkos who got their professional life and personal life all mixed up. When these dumb-asses start doing ROIs, cost/benefit analysis, managing expectations, improving efficiency, team-building etc with their personal relationships and friendships then they deserve what they got. Maybe they will now joing the real world and do something meaningful, atleast they lost their cockiness.

The traders Monsieur Bling addresses will only feel bad a short while until they realize that the 10s of millions they were overpaid is enough to get them by the rest of several lifetimes if they can refrain from blowing it all on high priced hookers.

The fun begins when JP Morgan starts searching for synergies and heads begin to roll of staff not involved with trading.

I finally understand why, in naval tradition, the captain always goes down with the ship. The responsibility for everyone on the ship belongs to the captain, whose ultimate job is to ensure the ship gets to where it’s going without sinking.

This is great.

I once wrote a piece on “The Corporation as a Feudal Society” –words are different here but are on target

How did author get away with such honesty”

Wolves are pack animals, Bing. They take you down with numbers, attacking from all sides.

Bears - bears are solitary, smart, and predatory.

I’m not sure what affect that has on the rest of your analogy.

Hey, when hundreds of thousands of workers out here lost jobs, the folks on Wall Street got bigger bonuses (Chinese labor is really, really cheap, good for profits, and don’t forget the profit opportunities in child labor and slaves!).

No one cared a bit, either in the White House or Wall Street.

So excuse me for not crying too many crocodile tears for former Bear employees.

It would be nice if the shareholders and their lawyers were able to clawback all of the executive bonuses paid the past three years or so. Not likely.

There is nothing fair in this world. There is nothing safe in this world. And there’s nothing sure in this world. And there’s nothing pure in this world. Look for something left in this world.
- Billy Idol “White Wedding”

I have no sympathy for these “poor”former employees of Bear.They were all part of the greed and corruption on Wall Street.And, as a Canadian,the same fate awaits the corrupt bunch on Bay Street(Toronto).Fortunately,my wife and I have been preparing for this day for fifteen years.We are prepared for the coming DEPRESSION even though the vast majority just sit idly by watching the crooks steel their money.

I am interested in knowing if Bear has an outplacement department. Our firm has a good job for an accountant with commodities experience or hedge fund background. Anyone have any ideas?

I am a wolf. I will bite anything and destroy all who try to be within a mile from me.

- WolfSterns

Like the laws of gravity, the laws of economics have not been (and cannot be) repealed! And yes, on a more philosophical note…just about all religions on earth agree that greed is one of the seven deadly sins….Bear’s demise is the most recent example of this.

I worked at Bear Stearns for seven glorious years. The firm was smart ,little politics and had a huge heart.. charity , sharing with those who had less were part of the firm’s culture based on the best of Jewish values. Employees were encouraged to give and tithe.. to any cause that helped make this a better world.. YES.. mistakes were made.. and everyone now has retroactive 20/20 vision.. NO.. this wasn’t your typical greedy firm. They made money to make this a better world… Steve E .

The greed just bite back. How does it feel? HaHa.

JP Morgan has gotten the greatest deal of the 21st Century (thus far). A $30 billion non-recourse loan, a billion dollar building in Midtown Manhattan and proprietary access to some of the smartest and most agressive mortgage traders and asset backed bond people in the world. Citibank and BofA should watch their backs, they are about to get steamrolled by JPM.

What BSC did their people, shareholders and the company is despicable. Multiply the number of jobs by 4 and you have the number of people impacted — families, children, wives, parents, etc… The leadership team should be forced to pay fines equal to their incentive compensation for the past 3 years and it should all go to the employees. Moreover, they should serve one less day in prison than what Ken Lay and Bernie Ebbers serve. Of course, our government regulators let them get away with this — what is wrong with this situation? Once again, we do not fear going to war, but we cannot stop our own financial institutions from running amuck. Does anyone have any honor left? Please start at the top by firing the President and all of his appointed Cabinet lackey’s.

I just want to say that I work for a large financial institution that is doing horribly. I feel that all of these places were nothing but greedy pigs giving home loans to people who they knew darn well couldn’t pay it back. See what happens when you get greedy? I don’t even own a home but I am feeling the effects of all this. I will be surprised if I have a job come summertime. And about the CEO’s and Board of Directors, I think they all knew what was coming down, but left while the gettin’ was good and took their money and ran. Where I work, the end of the year 2007, a lot of big wigs left. Why? Because they knew what was coming down. Our stock has gone down by about 90%. I will probably find out I don’t have a job anymore by watching the news over a weekend like the people at Bear Stearns.

I was unjustly fired (i.e., pressured to quit) by Bear Stearns in 1994. I was performing just fine until I got a new boss who didn’t like me. Bear found inconceivable ways to make my life a living hell until I conceded to leave. Working there was like working in a shark tank. I don’t feel sorry for anyone there and feel like they all are getting what’s coming to them. I refused to sign a waiver in personnel on the way out the door, and their personnel manager in Human Resources illegally signed it for me. It was a statement that I would agree not to ever prosecute Bear Stearns. I couldn’t believe they would stoop so low as to forge my signature. Good night, Bear Stearns.

Bing is right on this one! You are no longer a “Bear.” Don’t ever forget that!

As a “Morganian,” you will want to put away the Bear things. No pins, no cups, no bags….. This is survival and you CAN do it!

And that this happened after Feb/early March when bonuses get paid in the industry? Hmmmm…coincidence???

Also remember, the best and the brightest do not always survive in this war ( the dull and the myopic do). No one want to have someone from the “other side” challenge them or seek his/her position.

How is it that these multi-million dollar whiz kids and executives are supposed to be so good at predicting the future for investing or money, but cannot see the fire creeping up their pant legs to eventually burn their arse? Makes you think they are in it for the incredible amount of money for as long as it will last and then move on to another venture. My vote is for to let the chips fall where they may and let the market work its way out of trouble. For those that get burnt, I am sorry, but if you are so smart, you should have seen it coming.

And keep in mind, perspective is everything. You could be Eliot Spitzer.

How truly, truly sad for the operations of Bear Stearns. My heart goes out to them.

I’m sure top management will survive even though they are the ones that directly contributed to getting the company in a crappy situation to begin with.

Um, BOARD OF DIRECTORS???? Where were you when trouble FIRST knocked???? Nothing like waiting until the last minute to deal with the devil and at the same time correcting the analysts who saw it coming to keep that stock price pumped. Has someone looked into board members and executive teams selling of shares in the last few weeks/months?

Congratulations to the sharks at JPMorgan who, I’m sure, are still licking their chops, surging off of the adrenaline and slapping themselves on the back. My mind goes to Gekko type characters which is probably a compliment to them. WONDERFUL PR department you have. NICE job guys. May your heads rest just a wee bit easier on the pillow at night, that you provided a few more days of employment for the Bear peeps.

Listen to Bing’s advice..it’s on mark. I avoided 4 rounds of ‘downsizing’ after the tech bubble burst and through a crummy market after 9/11. Life does go on. Stay strong, good luck and you have my prayers.

Lastly, To the boards and executive management, karma is a beeeeeatch.

Having worked at Chase (the original Chase Manhattan Bank) and later Bear, I can tell you that the culture is like oil and vinegar. The rough and tumble, greedy, street-wise types at Bear will stand out under their new masters like a sore thumb.

Well said, Bing - and unfortunately likely to be useful in the near future to many more people…

I wonder what Warren Spector is doing today?

“America is the land of the second chance - and when the gates of the prison open, the path ahead should lead to a better life.” George W. Bush