"...So if Bear was determined to be too big to fail, isn't it likely the Fed would think Lehman is as well?
Probably. That's because Lehman, the fourth-largest investment bank, is bigger than Bear, which was the fifth-largest at the time it nearly imploded.
What's more, Lehman, a bond-trading powerhouse, is even a bigger player in the mortgage-backed securities market than Bear was. So the Fed could easily argue that letting Lehman go under could create even more chaos in the already volatile credit markets.
Yes, Fuld wants to keep the bank independent by taking a piecemeal approach to breaking up the company. But the market may not let him do so.
And until Lehman actually announces that it has, in fact, raised a substantial amount of capital, it's likely that there will be continued pressure on the stock.
If Lehman's stock falls further, it's reasonable to think that some financial institution would take a gamble on buying the company, especially if it could get Lehman through a "takeunder" just as JPMorgan did with Bear. "
money.cnn.com/2008/09/10/markets/thebuzz/...version=2008091010
You only learn who has been swimming naked when the tide goes out - W.Buffett