Those Kingly Tools At Bear Stearns

If this seems a little phallic, it didn’t start out that way.  In fact, I had been thinking more about headdress.

Specifically though, I was just so impressed by the way Bear Stearns and its kingly top honchos have made such a big deal about their towering skyscraper in almost every Annual Report since 2000, the year it was erected.  (It’s been on the cover of all but two Reports since and there are easily another dozen shots I haven’t included.)

How prophetic.  I mean, the company that almost singularly identified itself by its huge piece of real estate ends up leading the market meltdown, and then crashing and burning due to rampant speculation in hedge funds tied to sub-prime mortgages.

And you wonder why a bin Laden would have been so focused on the World Trade Center.

Oh, and here’s one more view of the Bear Stearn boys and their steel fixation.

Bear Stearns Annual Reports (investor relations)

As Big Banks Fall: The Bear Has Fallen and the Bull is Gone (Danny Schechter – Huffington Post)

Bear Stearns fiasco is regulatory failure (Baltimore Sun)

(images: Bear Stearns Annual Reports, 2000 – 2005)