Sheila Bair: Rescuing Bear Stearns Was a Mistake

In the panicky days of September 2008, a kind of conventional wisdom grew up in the minds of almost all of the Serious People. The failure to "rescue" Lehman Brothers, according to the Con Wiz, was an especially bad mistake on the part of regulators. The government should have arranged a distressed sale by back-stopping Lehman's assets against losses.