Washington Mutual, that’s who.
Hey, I’m thinking Treasury Secretary Hank “The Hammer” Paulson is probably wondering when the Hell he will get a weekend off. He bailed out Fannie and Freddie, the Toxic Twins, last weekend. This weekend he’ll be busy, busy, busy trying to find a buyer for Lehman before their debt gets downgraded and stress fractures appear on financial edifices worldwide. I’m guessing he’s already penciled in the weekend after that to preserve whatever smoldering ruins remain from what once was Washington Mutual.
Socialists spend considerable time theorizing about crises of capitalism. Well, no need for more speculation, because we’re in one right now. Problem is, such crises tend to hose down everyone rather than just raining righteous retribution on evildoer capitalists (who often have a way of escaping relatively unscathed anyway, if they don’t actually eventually profit from the whole thing.) No, it’s those with less money and resources that get whacked worse by such crises. But you knew that.