Ignoring the Lessons of the Past

On the anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, President Obama urged Wall Street to learn 'the lessons of Lehman' and not repeat the same mistakes.

There are many who are suggesting that Wall Street has not learned the lessons of Lehman, opting instead to fight any new regulations that might impede lending, borrowing, investing or any other business the banks are involved in.

What lessons should have been learned? What lessons have been learned?

Large banks CAN and Do fail.
Re-packaging junk and calling it AAA doesn't change reality.
Being highly leveraged in high-risk securities is dangerous.
Investing in complex derivatives that you don't understand is downright foolish.

However, what has probably been learned is this: if Big Banks get into trouble, the government will bail them out.

Without the bailouts, the crisis would have been massive. With the bailouts, the lesson is not learned.

Caught between a rock and a hard place.

U.S. Debt Approaching $12 Trillion

I had to post this link to the new Calculator developed that has 16 digits...in order to show the U.S. debt which was $11,792,918,170,836.43 on Sept 1st.

this is a sobering thought in light of the rosy economic predictions coming out of Washington. Layoffs have continued, although at a slower rate but there are some signs that a recovery is beginning.

The stimulus package has had a positive impact and this will likely lead to improvements next year. Vehicle sales were positively impacted by the 'Cash for Clunkers' program and total vehicle sales will likely be higher next year. However, recovery is not going to happen overnight.

Still, in case some of you are thinking that everything is fine again, take a look at the debt. You may have to purchase the new calculator as most calculators are unable to display the number.