Crawfish and Killian's Principle, Part II

Alright, let’s recap from Part I…

You have me as a financial institution gobbling up all the Cajun food in sight. Cajun food, in this case, being high yielding, yet fundamentally flawed mortgage backed investments and access to easy, easy credit. All of these tasty treats being served up by Sammy’s, a reputable vendor, following all of the legal guidelines for food and beverage preparation.

Now kids, what happens when you eat too much? You generally get a tummy ache, right? The extent of the tummy ache depends on the extent of the damage done to the system. In my case, I was in Sammy’s a lot, and I tried everything on the menu. No balance to my diet. No moderation as to quantities consumed. Simply focused on the bottom line, my satisfaction, with no regard for tomorrow.

It started with stomach cramps (call it the slow down in the economy). Stomach cramps progressed to gut pain (call it declining home values). Gut pain and cramps morphed into full on gastric distress (call it the poor economy, mixed with lower home values, add in increasing foreclosures on mortgages, topped with investments in mortgage backed securities turning south) Overburdened and mistreated, my system crashed about a half mile from Sammy’s on the way home one evening (call it the cycle of bank failures, stock market declines, increasing mortgage foreclosures). My disaster took place at a Texaco on the corner of Garfield and Highland. I don’t recall putting the car in park, or turning it off for that matter. I barely made it inside. Gentle readers, I brought hell with me that twilight rendering a six block area near the LSU campus uninhabitable for the next six weeks (Call it the current landscape of the financial markets today).

Let’s make this a three part deal, shall we. Tomorrow, the exciting conclusion: “The Bail-Out”