“They called him the Gorilla – the brawler known as the scariest man on Wall Street,” writes the Times about Dick Fuld, head of Lehman, and the story tells of his rise and fall. Most striking is this portrait posted outside Lehman offices for staff to post their comments on. Click on the picture and see the comment right above his head: “Austrian Economics Was Right!”
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That’s so sad. Being happy because one unknown person wrote that the austrians were right…
The day that someone who actually matters write this same phrase is yet to come..
The fall in prices due to a deflationary credit contraction isn’t a valid market signal, is it? At that point “the market” is skewed beyond all rational recognition, it seems too me.
What would happen if brand new bills were literally dropped from helicopters at the same rate the money supply is contracting due to credit crunch?
Good comments on that thing. I like “So long and thanks for all the fish!” It’s an appropriate countermeasure to this Keynesian crisis in my opinion–if I were a dolphin, that is.
JBeltrano, what’s sad about it? In the future I foresee a lot more economists swallowing their undeserved pride and admitting Austrian econ is correct.
http://www.nostate.com/img/fuld-small.jpg
It is a fallacy that negative distortions of human qualities are necessary to succeed. Aggression is a negative distortion of assertiveness, for example.
Although the portrait seems to show a corrupt nature that is only because the nature of the individual was already described in the Time as the ‘scariest man on Wall Street.’
In a world with the economy corrupted by the ego-driven interventionists these negative qualities may lead to riches but this is little different from a dog finding a nest of baby rabbits. Instead of being man’s best friend it turns into a crazed killer feasting on babies! Which is noble and which is abased?
In a classical liberalism society only positive manifestations of human qualities will lead to prosperity.
From the TIME article:
“Over the past few months he refused to acknowledge that Lehmans was in difficulty – despite frequent warnings from leading analysts. Had he acted sooner, he would have been able to avoid bankruptcy. A series of interested buyers surfaced in recent months, but Mr Fuld would not sell at the prices offered. By the time he appeared to face up to the situation at the end of last week, it was too late: Lehman was past the point of no return.”
I’ll hazard a guess as to why he wouldn’t sell. I’m willing to bet that he was counting on a bailout from the government.
….never be fuld again.
What an astounding piece of raw history. Thank you for preserving this document, which tells us with the immediacy of the new media the depths of the crisis… and the hope we share that the market “knows” more than any of us think we know. I find it’s contents hopeful. Empires still tremble at “I am Sparticus!” Astounding.
I like the “Thanks, Dick!” ones myself.
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