http://www.billcara.com/archives/2008/03/caras_commentary_community_cha_160.html#more
"The NY Times is reporting that JP Morgan Chase may increase from $2 to $10 per share the price paid to acquire the bankrupt Bear Stearns. Traders had been asking why the price in the market had not dropped to $2. Now you know; it’s lawyers who are sucking and blowing in this market until a deal is no longer a deal.
I say that JP Morgan Chase ought to be able to do whatever they want if the Fed withdraws their agreement to underwrite $30 billion in worthless Bear Stearns assets. Then the bankruptcy lawyers can return to the table, and Bear Stearns will be worth zero.
The issue here isn’t Bear Stearns, JP Morgan or the Fed. The bottom line is that in America the lawyers have won. It used to be that “Sold to you” actually meant something. A deal is now no longer a deal. History can now be changed as soon as somebody with deeper pockets wants to change it and hires a lawyer to do so.
Even lawyers must understand where I am coming from here. Capital markets, which are based on time-stamped transactions, are being undermined. Capital markets are not a court of law where "he said, she said". It's a place where "they said" and the rest of us count on it.
Everybody had better start thinking about this issue because there are none bigger."
