September 15 marks the three-year anniversary since Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest investment bank in America, declared bankruptcy.
A global financial crisis erupted in part from the aftermath of Lehman Brothers going under, and as the world looks at recession three years later, has anything changed?In the last three years, bank have only become more powerful and profitable, all the while a double dip recession might still be on the horizon. What’s most dangerous, perhaps, is how exposed the markets are to such an extreme risk.“American banks arguably have somewhat less leverage than they did in 2008,” Karl Denninger of the Markiet Ticket told RT. He added, however, that today they’e “also become better at hiding the risk.”One investment banker in London lost $2 billion this week over insider trading while working for UBS. Why hasn’t anything been restricted or has the world not learned from the collapse of Lehman?“I’m not surprised that it occurred,” said Denninger. “I am surprised that after 2008 and Lehman Brothers that we still have sinstitutions that cannot manage to handle fundament and basic risk controls,” he added.Even still, said Denninger, spending left and right across the globe makes the risk of a double dip recession higher and higher yet the world will once again be unaware of what dire times are to come. “Eventually you get to the point where you have no cash flow,” said Denninger, “and when the lights go out, everyone's exposed of what they’ve been doing.” And what have they been doing? Spending, spending, spending.If that continues, economists predict that the debt will only get bigger. “If we double the debt, how are we going to make the payments?" asked Denninger.Maybe banks should ask the Lehman Brothers to find out.