A Note To the Employees Of Bear Stearns

I'm sure your eyes goggled when you saw it too. JP Morgan (JPM) paid a couple or three hundred million for a company worth incalculably more. It's stunning. And while one may wonder about the executive competence of those who engineering this catastrophe, those who simply showed up every day to do what was expected of them are now faced with an uncertain fate, one that has afflicted working people since the first Etruscans noticed a large group of Romans heading over the hill, and probably before.

Guys, you were once a nation. Now you are a duchy under a much larger corporate flag. Soon there will be fewer of you, and those of you who survive to wear the new colors will have obeyed certain rules, rules that will not guarantee your success but will enhance your somewhat slender chances. Here are a few suggestions from one who has been through it a few thousand times:

Know the lay of the land. It is possible that the world has moved on so completely that acquisitors no longer even feign collegiality. When I was a kid, when a company took you over they paid a lot of lip service to how great things were going to be for everybody. I know, because I was in the lip service department. "We have two great cultures here and together one plus one will equal four!" That kind of thing. These protestations were often accompanied by word the expenses would be "rationalized," but such warnings also went hand-in-hand with assurances that resulting merged departments would be "stocked with the best both companies have to offer." This is hogwash. When Rome wins, Romans take over. So get ready to become one or die as a lowly Briton.

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Comments

[dadw5boys]

THE ONLY REASON IS WAS WORTH MORE IS THAT THE FEDERAL RESERVE ASSUMED $ 32 BILLION OF THE BEAR AND STEARNS DEBT11111111111

[Sundialsvc4]

I think there's a crime here. I think it perfectly reasonable to demand a Federal court issue an injunction to block this sale, which was finalized under the strangest of circumstances with no competitive bidding, at an absurdly low price, in the dead of night. If the price was too low, then the shareholders were defrauded. And if the price WASN'T actually too-low, then, well then, the shareholders have been defrauded for a very long time!

[Maschine]

JPM did not BUY Bear Stearns, they made an offer. Bear Stearn sharholders have yet to vote on it. Joe lewis and thye employees of bear Stearns own 43 % of the float.......Do you really think they'll have any problems getting the other 8% to kill the deal.

Are you kidding me, the building alone is worth a Billion. Hell, even Warren Buffet can offer 10 times what JPM offered and still be backed by the Feds.

Something is wrong when a deal is processed on the weekend . A deal that sees the value of the stock crater 43 points. You think some manipulation is in order. have you seen the Puts , this was an orcestrated attack on America.

Something is wrong when the CEO and the SEC says, we are solid. Something is wrong when you have SOX legislation and this stuff is happening.

I feel for the sharholders and employees who got robbed on the weekend. The market had no opportunity to fairly value Bear Stearns. If i was a shareholder of BSC, I would be on the hunt tonighty. i would be going for some scalps. What is happening to this country is outrageous.

The beacon of Democracy and free markeets is no better then snake infested house of cards. i am totally disgusted, A revbolution is in order. Our best and out Brightest have persisted in systemativcally screwing the ill equipped in this country.......is this what we have become.......

[Iownpeterbilt]

This is no longer the country we grew up in, I guess we will just have to get accustomed to the new ways of doing things........

[begintowin]

The federal government has no business giving an investment bank my hard earned tax payer dollars to continue paying the exorbitant compensation of these greedy executives. Don't shareholders have the right to vote on the buyout?

[Novista]

Who cares about the executives when everyone else is at risk, even you?

Derivatives and counterparty risk are the demons to fight, and if you worry solely about taxpayer dollars, you would likely find a bankruptcy of BS would bring you more grief that you ever imagined.