31 December 2008
Hotel Lawyers on lessons from The Crash of 2008.
2008 will go down as a terrible year in many regards. Global economies have come to the precipice of disaster. The Dow had its worst year since 1931 — down 34% for the year, representing the loss of more than $7 trillion in wealth. Many trillions more evaporated from the value of both residential and commercial real estate. Consumer confidence is at its lowest point since they began keeping records. The unthinkable has happened with the fallen pillars of Bear Stearns, Lehman, Merrill Lynch, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and AIG. Even GE couldn’t sell its commercial paper until the Fed stepped in to buy it. And then there is Bernard Madoff who bilked some of the most sophisticated investors in the world out an estimated $50 billion.
What was wrong with the mortgage mess, CMBS meltdown and Madoff?