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Too Big to Fail? Risk and Protection in Shifting Markets – Lehman, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Citibank

The exact same failing brought down Wall Street, Detroit and Main Street's real estate speculators.

By Adam Hartung · 29 April 2025 · 1 min read

Too Big to Fail? Risk and Protection in Shifting Markets – Lehman, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Citibank

The Real Blindness Behind The Collapse

The exact same failing brought down Wall Street, Detroit and Main Street's real estate speculators.

"Too big to fail" is a new phrase in the American lexicon, born in the economic crisis that gave us a bankrupt Lehman Brothers and the shotgun marriage of Merrill Lynch with Bank of America.
Nobody really knows what it means, except that somehow in the banking
world, central bankers can decide that some institutions–like
AIG, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and BofA–are so big they simply have to be kept alive.

This is the first paragraph in my latest column for Forbes.  There is much EVERY business leader can learn from the collapse of Lehman.  Learn about risk, and about how to succeed in a shifting marketplace.  Please give the Forbes article a read – and put on a comment!  Everybody enjoys reading what others think!

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Adam Hartung · 29 April 2025