Where I rant about Lehman nuking us and the economy

This post is neither partisan nor non-partisan. It is simply human. I am not writing this as a Democrat or a Republican or trying to bridge any gap between the two. I am writing it as the mother of three kids who has spent the better part of 50 years trying to make this place where we live better for them.

As the financial news has rolled down and over us, in some case steamrolling, I have trusted that someone was overseeing this mess and the unwinding of the true offenders who are now bankrupt in a way that would cause the least harm to taxpayers and the economy.

I never dreamed I would have to worry about the harm they might do to the world.

Whatever side of the political spectrum you might call home, let’s hope we can agree on this: no bankrupt financial services company should be allowed sit on enough yellowcake to make a nuclear bomb.

You read that right. From Bloomberg:

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. is sitting on enough uranium cake to make a nuclear bomb as it waits for prices of the commodity to rebound, according to traders and nuclear experts.

The bankrupt bank, in the throes of paying off creditors, acquired uranium cake “under a matured commodities contract” and plans to sell it when the market improves “to realize the best prices,” Chief Executive Officer Bryan Marsal said.

Ummm. Think about that. A defunct, bankrupt financial company is sitting on enough yellowcake to start World War III and they plan to hold it until they can sell it to the highest bidder?

The hypocrisy of such a thing boggles the mind. Evidently Lehman started playing in the uranium commodities market shortly after its bankruptcy declaration, when prices were much higher than they are today. They came into possession of the actual uranium cake as the result of a matured commodities contract.

If nothing else, this illustrates the moral bankruptcy of our financial services system. Uranium should not be an asset on the books of a bankrupt speculator as a result of post-bankruptcy speculation. It just shouldn’t.

How can we criticize North Korea or Iran for their nuclear programs when we have an American company selling the fuel for their reactors (or bombs, depending on your point of view)? How can it be possible that fat-cat unbailed bankers own 500,000 pounds of uranium?

In my opinion, there’s a moral obligation to put such material in the hands of the US government, bailout or no bailout. Lehman was not bailed out. They were allowed to go bankrupt. They were allowed to speculate after they declared bankruptcy, purely for the possibility of increasing their assets no matter what the strategy. They decided to invest in the fuel for the destruction of the world.

Does that bother anyone but me? Forget terrorists, we have renegade, morally corrupt bankers in possession of FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS of uranium yellowcake. Because after going bankrupt from speculating on mortgages, they decided to speculate on nuclear weapons. And they were allowed to.

Let that sink in. Let it make you mad. Let it spur you to protest.

Because if we do not draw a line somewhere, there will be no lines to draw.

Tagged as: commodities, Iran, Lehman, North Korea, nuclear weapons, uranium, WTF, yellowcake