The events of 9/15/2008 reminded me of the 9/11 days. If the collapse of the "World Trade Center" had the world in shock, the fall of the 160 year old powerful investment bank "Lehman Brothers" too had the everybody in the financial markets in a sense of sheer disbelief of what alien meteor exactly hit us all this weekend.
"Lehman goes down" was the word on the street.
Reminicent of the CNN commentator reporting "WTC goes down" in the 9/11 days. The entire financial markets falling in a state of tizzy accompanied with gloom, anxiousness and anxiety surrounding the fate of the markets and financial sector at large. With everyone wondering "who's next ???" & "When will this turmoil comes to an end"
It was really heart-breaking to see the once elite employee club of Lehman gasp over their future in a sense of desperation and disbelief.
The two events of the day that I am sure will stand out in my memory were....
1.) The scene of a Lehman employee crying out in the news in sheer anxiety shouting
"Bank of America saved Merill, what did we do wrong ! what did we do wrong !"
2.) An email of a Lehman employee sent to a colleague of mine with "HELP" as the subject line.
A senior analyst in the firm, the lady wrote.
"Pls help !!! . I recently bought a house on loan and I am without a job. The housing interest rates have risen 1.5% and without a job I wouldn't be able to pay off my mortgage. Pls help by fwding my resume to recruiters and HR consultants."
Bet she would have never imagined to see this day ! "
Then, there were a few of us who felt saddened by the closure of Lehman. To start with, Lehman was regarded as one of the best pay-masters among all investment banks.
So, for us in the financial world, its an insurmountable loss as we all have an one less ship to sail on :(
Secondly, having the job market flooded with 2200 employees of Lehman Brothers working in Mumbai (who would be practically ready to work for pea-nuts) atleast for the time being isn't exactly a good news for us.
In the midst of this chaos, what struck me was USA, a land which prided itself on financial innovation, (they invented capital markets) let one of its own creations (sub-prime, Asset Backed securities & Mortgage backed securities) be its greatest undoing with the ripple effects felt throughout the world economies. None of us has the luxury of being isolated with any thing that happens in the US these days.
One only hopes that there wouldn't be any further bloodbath on Wall-Street to spare the misery of the white-collared souls living throughout the world underneath its reign !
1 comment:
Well articulated.
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