Lehman Brothers Fall Bad For New York
The fall of the nation’s fourth largest investment bank bodes poorly for New York City.
Lehman Brothers employs some 2,000 people in New York. It’s believed that at least half will soon be out of work.
The bank also occupies more than 20-million-square-feet of office space in Manhattan.
The record bankruptcy follows an 11th-hour weekend attempt by the feds to find a suitor to bail Lehman Brothers out. An attempt was made to create a partnership with Bank of America But BOA instead decided to buy another ailing investment giant, Merrill Lynch, for some $50 billion dollars.
Former Fed chair Alan Greenspan, who is known for his understatement about the nation’s financial status, said on This Week on ABC that the United States is facing a “once-in-a-century” financial crisis.
There’s a saying here in New York. How Wall Street goes, so goes New York City. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, no slouch when it comes to understanding finances, will likely come out with belt tightening measures. Hopefully the city, and the nation, will be able to weather this financial storm.
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