Lehman Russ Tank(ed)

Lehman Bros. is down another $3 or so to around $4.50 and falling. It has lost 75% of its value just in the last 4 days.

I'm expecting by Friday, we'll see rumors of Fed intervention boosting stock price for the suckers right before the Sunday Night bailout.

Lehman Brothers shares lost about 40 percent on Thursday as Wall Street questioned whether the investment bank will survive because of its failure to sell assets to cover losses from toxic real estate investments.

In early trade, the stock was recently down $2.92, or 40 percent, at $4.32 as analysts voiced doubts about the bank's survival plan, laid out on Wednesday by Chief Executive Dick Fuld.

The shares have lost about 76 percent since Monday and are down 94 percent from their 52-week high of $67.73.

Lehman will not survive into Monday. Count on it. Hell, as things are going, the Fed will have to find a buyer for WaMu as well.

WaMu fell 39 cents, or 17 percent, to $1.93 at 10:18 a.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Data from the exchange showed that bets on a falling stock price, or short sales, rose more for WaMu than any other company in the two weeks ended Aug. 29.

Investors pushed down shares of the Seattle-based company 30 percent yesterday and 20 percent the day before on concern that their holdings may be diluted if WaMu seeks new capital. The company has said it expects losses tied to home lending may total $19 billion in the next 2½ years. TPG Inc., the New York- based private-equity firm led by David Bonderman, led a $7 billion cash infusion in April.

The scary thing is that foreign banks aren't touching these, unlike Abu Dhabi and Citicorp. It's probably because foreign banks can't have a controlling interest in US financial firms, and these banks aren't going to loan them the money to save themselves if they can't get a stake in how the companies are run, because they're being run badly.

Can you imagine if China bought out Lehman and replaced the Board of Directors in an election year? That would be the only option other than taxpayer takeover and it being run by the same folks who made the mess.

Which is worse, honestly?