Thu 2009-11-19 10:09 EST

The downfall of Washington Mutual - Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle)

Kirsten Grind

WaMu suffered through not one but two bank runs in its final months. The first run was many times larger than the run that felled California lender IndyMac in July 2008, though neither shareholders nor the public knew about it. WaMu survived that run, and the second run was tapering off when regulators moved in and shut the bank, citing the run as the reason. In addition, WaMu's top executives, led by CEO Alan Fishman, were trying to sell the bank after federal regulators imposed a deadline, only to discover that they were being undermined by those same regulators, executives say. The government's plan to seize the bank, if it became known beforehand, would cause potential buyers to immediately cool their heels, because buying after a government takeover would be a lot cheaper than even the desperate private purchase deal that Fishman was seeking.

downfall; Puget Sound Business Journal; Seattle; Washington Mutual.

Thu 2009-07-30 00:00 EDT

naked capitalism: Guest Post: Chasing The Shadow Of Money

-- Friedrich Hayek's seminal Prices and Production, published in the depression days of 1935...discerned the critical role of the shadow banking system long before the advent of securitization, derivatives and other products that today have caused the monetary supply problem to reach a screaming crescendo...shadow money and credit are not just the dynamo that drives the free market, but also its Achilles heel

chasing; Guest Post; money; naked capitalism; shadows.

Tue 2009-06-16 00:00 EDT

Barron's Online

Shareholders Be Damned! by Alan Abelson; ``How the Washington gang brought Ken Lewis to heel and forced Bank of America to go through with its acquisition of loss-ridden Merrill Lynch. If everything's coming up roses, why are corporate insiders selling?''

Barron s online.