A Layman on Lehman : Troubling Finance Buyout stories...

Lehman got taken over by Nomura...

And from what I can gather, they paid out 'bonuses' to retain staff... big monies paid one hears.

Senior employees who for a few months were as mortally scared as any at the prospect of looming uncertainties and a finance collapse, who would have been thankful at the fact that their jobs were intact, have been paid hefty bonuses to 'stay on' at a job they would have been more than happy to stay on anyway.

So what does this tell me? ... System mein kuchh ghoch hai... Something is odd about the system of bail outs...

A few years ago, I ventured to ask a friend to explain 'derivatives'. Sub-primes. Reinsurance... I am sure it was explained wonderfully. Much as I sagely nodded all through, thing is, it made no sense. I am no finance expert... never have been. It all seemed deliciously complex.

Was impressed. That I have friends who understood all this modern world stuff that are gobbledegook to me. What I could understand that I did not understand back then was this. How come I-banks paid out millions of rupees in salaries to fresh and raw just-out-of-school recruits at the IIMs, institutes never known to take people with work- ex anyway... what could these zero workex 23 year olds do that was worth so much?

Now I figure that the house of cards has come crashing down. Now I hear rumours that what we have seen so far is a domino effect that has just begun...

So I come back to my original question.. How come the world of today continues to pay out million rupee bonuses?
Am I that layman who is missing something again?

Should I do what I had always done...
Shut up and ask the questions no more? Eh, Nomura?

In the meantime here's something I am reading re the Wall Street bailout, with horrified fascination: Naomi Klein