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Wall Street has been through a wretched year. So why are so few people paying the price? Read more

Ben Bernanke hasn't caught very many lucky breaks of late, but the fact that Bear Stearns hit its liquidity crunch and got downgraded by all three ratings agencies on a Friday is probably one of them. The downgrade wasn't welcome, of course, but it did inject a sense of urgency into proceedings: a clearing investment bank can't function with a BBB rating. Over the course of the weekend, a new Committee to Save the World was convened. And so, before the markets reopen on Monday, Ben Bernanke, Tim Geithner, Hank Paulson, and Jamie Dimon can announce, with no little sense of relief, that Bear Stearns is being bought by JP Morgan. That news will likely send stocks up - with the exception of BSC, of course, which is being acquired for the bargain-basement price of $2 a share, despite the protestations of Bear's management that the bank's book value is still over $80. ... Read more