Bear meat: 93% Off

That's what JP Morgan is buying Bear Stearns at.

(H/t to Emptywheel)

They were $30.00 a share - JP Morgan gets them for two bucks a share. For a company that was $170 per share last year, that's a bit of a drubbing.

digby's saying 'buckle up,' and I'd believe her. This kind of crap keeps happening, the Fed's money tree is going to start wilting soon.

Late edit:
As ever, CJR provides clarity on this story and asks some questions about this story's first draft.

And there's this:
No matter how dumb a thing you do today, you're nowhere close to this guy's screw up:


(H/t TPM)
Moral: never get your financial advice from insane yelling guy.

And then there's this, too:
(TPM again)

the Fed apparently had to make guarantees to J.P. Morgan of $30 billion in order to get the bank to take Bear Stearns even at this price. That suggests the bank had a lot of real garbage on its books. The markets are right to be worried.

[snip]
One person who does not have to worry is James Cayne, the recently departed chief executive of Bear Stearns. According to the New York Times, he walked with $232 million in compensation over the period from 1993 to 2006. This is just another example of how the global economy rewards extraordinary talent.

Nice.