Hindsight/Oversight, My Ass

Enron, 9/11, Iraq

Now this, You lame duck asshole.

Everyone who reelected you is to blame.

Sad days in America. Is this the best we can do?

The day seemed to hold promise as it began. On Wednesday night, Mr. Bush had delivered a prime-time televised address to the nation, warning that “our country could experience a long and painful recession” if lawmakers did not act quickly to pass a huge Wall Street bailout plan.

And that would be different because.....

Washington Mutual, the giant lender that came to symbolize the excesses of the mortgage boom, was seized by federal regulators on Thursday night, in what is by far the largest bank failure in American history.


Hey W, you got a few days left. Put a man on the moon, or show up on Late Night.
Or Something. Heh Heh heh. "Shut up, Butthead"

JPMorgan has the ability to shoulder the $31 billion writedown to WaMu's loan portfolio, Hindman said. They were well aware of the writedown going in to the deal, he said.

The FDIC was seeking a buyer will to bear a large burden of WaMu's losses to lessen the impact on the insurance fund.

The seizure by the government means shareholders' equity in WaMu was wiped out. Therefore, the deal leaves private equity investors including the firm TPG Capital, which gave WaMu a cash infusion totaling $7 billion this spring, on the sidelines empty handed.

"We are dissatisfied with the loss to our partners from our investment in Washington Mutual," said TPG spokesman Owen Blicksilver. "The unprecedented turmoil in global financial markets and resulting macro crisis of confidence has radically changed the dynamics for all financial institutions and led to widespread losses among investors throughout the sector."

Some bondholders will also be wiped out by the deal. JPMorgan Chase is not acquiring any senior unsecured debt, subordinated debt or preferred stock of Washington Mutual's banks, or any assets or liabilities of the holding company, which will be left in the receivership. The government will be left to sell the soured mortgage assets of the holding company.

The senior unsecured debt and subordinated debt has a total value of tens of billions of dollars, according to the FDIC.

Bevis scores. Thanks America.