Abstract

History shows that the trials of Americans’ misuse ofmoney portray their tendency to savor short-term greed andpower over long-term prosperity. Despite a long and rockyhistory with financial crisis, Americans continue to look forquick fix solutions instead of preparing for long-termfinancial success. In 2007 prior to the credit crunch, theBank for International Settlements (an organization thatfosters cooperation between central banks) warned thatyears of loose monetary policies could lead to another 1930sslump; as the regulations of free-market, greed, power,inequality, and quick fix solutions ends in a bust (Levinson,2009). “The Fall of the House of the Lehman Brothers”(Fraser, 2008, p. 3), one of the oldest banks in the UnitedStates on Wall Street in the 1980’s, provides a perfectexample of how the regulation of free-market, greed, power,inequality, and quick fix solutions contaminatespartnerships and corporate businesses. While there wereseveral banks on Wall Street affected by this monetary crisis,this article will focus on the Lehman Brothers leveragebuyouts, bad decision-making, and the differing opinionsand power struggle between its co-Chief Executive Officers(co-CEO), Pete Peterson and Lew Glucksman.