I will donate $1000 to the DNC now if someone explains how G-S caused Lehman to fail.

[banned from Kos]

43. Securitization did not cause defaults and foreclosures!

WaMu failed in 2008. They choked on their own bad paper and risk practices on mortgage loans. Their failure had nothing to do with securitization.

As of June 30, 2008, Washington Mutual Bank had total assets of US$ 307 billion, with 2,239 retail branch offices operating in 15 states, with 4,932 ATMs, and 43,198 employees. It held liabilities in the form of deposits of $188.3 billion, and owed $82.9 billion to the Federal Home Loan Bank, and had subordinated debt of $7.8 billion. It held as assets of $118.9 billion in single-family loans, of which $52.9 billion were "option adjustable rate mortgages" (Option ARMs), with $16 billion in subprime mortgage loans, and $53.4 billion of Home Equity lines of Credit (HELOCs) and credit cards receivables of $10.6 billion. It was servicing for itself and other banks loans totaling $689.7 billion, of which $442.7 were for other banks. It had non-performing assets of $11.6 billion, including $3.23 billion in payment option ARMs and $3.0 billion in subprime mortgage loans.

(Wiki)

WaMu was the largest bank failure in US history due STRICTLY to their own lax credit standards.