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It means that they weren't prepared (as in being ready) for selling Lehmans and were clearly relying on another approach to the problem. It was a reasonable question for a buyer to make.

Of course, it could be a way to tell Barclays to go away whilst they concentrate on a homegrown solution to the problem.

"I hae learned"?

I have to wonder what exactly has Lehmans been up to. If they are up to their neck in CDSs so what?
Presumably their customers knew what they were doing and also Lehmans would have done what any good bookie does and lay the bets off elsewhere.
Or could it be that "The Industry" has decided there is one player too many?
Dog eat dog.

Not long to wait now until we find out what happens when a major investment bank goes 'belly up'.

How many more dominoes will fall as a result of this and who will be the next one?

This is real brinkmanship! Perhaps Lehman will still be rescued, but if it isn't then it's either going to create a blackhole that will suck other banks in and we'll be in a frightening situation come tomorrow evening or bank stocks will take a hammering and we'll lumber on for now.

But any debate about who should pay and justice for taxpayers should be put on hold: the US has to bail out the banks. The governments across Europe have to bail out the banks! To do otherwise is to court an unacceptable risk in my view.

There is a psychology out there now that didn't exist a year ago which is willing to accept how bad things are, and panic when things start to unravel. We don't know where that could lead and it is foolish to take any chances. It is my hope that the US changes its mind.

I'm on the pessimistic side of what will happen, but nevertheless, I do go to bed worried tonight.

It is back to the fair then.

Good decision by Barclays - they have in the USA.

Time to stick to your knitting

A wise decision--why expose Barclay shareholders to the bad actors at Lehman Brothers?

A famous US proverb: 'The opera ain't over 'til the Fat Lady sings!'

I think I hear someone vocalizing off stage even now...

Now is NOT the occasion for the Treasury to come riding to the rescue. Lehman must be allowed to fail, just like every other business in the marketplace.

is the U.S. heading for another 'crash' again if jp morgan etc;wonthelp bail out Lehman bros;?

Isn't this just all about the normal cycle for free rein economies? Fuelled by greed but who is immune from that. Let LEH go. Someone else will ascend.

It's best that Barclays decided not to join the ranks of Wall Streets finest.

Better to return to traditional banking methods of obtaining a return on capital than chasing the imagined returns of exotic financial instruments.

Think Captain Mainwaring.

Looking beyond the Lehman, Bear Sterns, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debacle. It is apparent that the years of free spending hedonism (on credit) are over and with it with over-liberal lifestyles.

Society has passed from the age of the cavaliers to that of the puritans economically. The social changes have yet to follow.

Lehmans is a relic of the age of profligacy, now passed.

I have worried for years about the UK economy being based on so much easy credit. The bubble always bursts. Why the the surprise?

Oh dear, tick tock.

Barclays shouldn't have walked away...they should have ran. Have they learned nothing from the ABN Amro affair?

I assume Lehmann Bros does not have depositors as in "Lloyds TSB or Nat West", so the losers will be mainly other banks who bought their "Paper",or Lehmanns own investment vehicles.No doubt the Market will be spooked tomorrow but it will pass and will ultimately recover.I don't know how long I will have to wait but I assume the Dividends will still roll in and maybe improve.

Gold and Silver are now the two most precious financial portfolio items to have...watch the price of Gold go up this week.

NEED TO KNOW- BASIS OF CRISIS

At the end of the day all of the homes are still standing there, so who in fact owns them?
Are all these billions of lost dollars just representing the overvalueing of the homes and thus increasing the costs of the mortgage to the extent that they could not be afforded?
If so, it would seem that the lenders are victims of their own greed by not questioning the ability of people being able to afford their mortgages.
Would this be a fair assessment of this crisis?

17# A short answer: NO.

HBOS/Lloyds merger agreed in the national interest?

The whole point about the OFT and the Competition Commission is that they are there to safeguard the national interest. If they are
to be sidelined, they may as well be closed down.

These may be extraordinary times but once you by-pass the regulators once, you give carte blanche to the buccaneers.

What is going to happen when someone else comes in tomorrow and offers a higher price than Lloyds? Will the OFT and CC still be bypassed?

Or is this a sort of compensation for Lloyds over Northern Rock?


Where is Richard Branson when you need him?