So another bank, Lehman Brothers, is going down. Sigh. Anyway, amidst all this I read a fantastic line delivered by John Jansen from across the curve.

We were engaged in an orgy of imprudent risk taking for nearly a decade and now a heavy price will be paid for the violation of so many simple and common sense precepts of trading.

I truly fear for our economy and our system the next several days.

'Orgy of imprudence' is such a fantastic phrase. I'd love to use that in a lecture. But I (like Mark Thoma) worry about that last line. 

So Bearn Stearns, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers: 0, Credit Crisis 3 (I'm giving FNMA and Freddie Mac the benefit of the doubt here, even though they also 'died'). Bets on the downfall of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are open.  Oh yes, something's wrong with AIG too.