Virtual Memories

This article covering the collapse of Lehman Bros. and the “death of Wall Street” isn’t as good as the multi-part extravaganza that the WSJ ran about Bear Stearns. There are way too many players involved, too small a space in which to tell the story, and so the death knell — Goldman and Morgan becoming plain old banks — is treated as an afterthought.

That said, the article features this awesome passage:

Rolling up to the meetings at around the same time was Goldman’s chief, Mr. Blankfein. A Goldman aide, referring to days of meltdowns and meetings, carped to Mr. Blankfein: “I don’t think I can take another day of this.”

Mr. Blankfein retorted: “You’re getting out of a Mercedes to go to the New York Federal Reserve — you’re not getting out of a Higgins boat on Omaha Beach,” he said, referring to the World War II experience of a former Goldman head. “So keep things in perspective.”