the moment 9/15/2008 New York

So much for masters of the universe.The Lehman brothers staffers trickling out of the firm's meltdown Manhattan headquarters on Sep 15 looked like prisoners on a perp walk.Overnight,the 158 years old financial behemoth had field for Chapter II bankruptcy protection,an implosion that presaged a day of calamity in the markets-the nadir of what former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan has called a once in a century crisis.As media crews hovered,some of Wall Street's best and brightest staggered out onto the pavement.Their faces crestfallen and their ties yanked askew.Reporters buttonholed employee on their way out the door,asking how they would feel if they lost their jobs.The really top execs screwed up very badly,said an analyst who had arrived at work on Monday morning without any idea of what might happen beyond what he read in the Wall-Street Journal.They wouldn't admit defeat.Another pur it more succinctly.It's over.Executive recruiters bustled around,extending business cards to anyone who resembled a banker,while a man leaning aganist the building's facade hoisted a printed sign on white,letter-size paper.Looking to hire say admin.A few feet away,Geoffery Raymond,a painter,unveiled The annotated Fuld-a large canvas of embattled Lehman brothers chairman and CEO Richard Fuld rendered with sunken eyes in yellow brush-strokes-and invited employees and passersby to adorn it with personal messages.The scrawlings ranged from angry missives You are a coward,Learn to respect the dollar to gallows humor.This sucks!I'm going kiteboarding,Hakuna Matata Means No Worries.A day later,Raymond hawked the painting for $10000.


In a crisis born of greed and recklessness,pity is in short supply.Jason L.Cohen,a psychiatrist,made the 1-hr,40-min,drive from freehold,N.J.,with the intention of ofering counsel to shell-shocked employees.But after wintessing the scene unfolding on the sidewalk,he decided to hold back.I don't have the heart to approach people carrying boxes out of their offices,he said.