Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon

by William D. Cohan

On September 25, against a backdrop of cascading dominoes, Jeff and Keith Sherin gave Wall Street security analysts an update on GE’s seemingly precarious financial situation. By this point in the crisis, Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch had been forced to merge with JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, respectively, while AIG and Lehman Brothers collapsed. AIG would be rescued by the federal government, while Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated, its parts disposed of around the world. Wachovia, too, had failed and had been bought by Wells Fargo, and Washington Mutual failed and was bought by JPMorgan Chase. Even mighty Citigroup, once the biggest bank in the world, nearly went down the tubes but for a massive bailout courtesy of the federal government.