The Last Days of Lehman Brothers

John Thain:
Are you gonna help the? AIG?

Henry 'Hank' Paulson:
There is no public money for a bailout of Lehman Brothers. If we can't figure out a way to keep them standing, thery're going to be bankrupt when trading opens in Japan on Monday.

Henry 'Hank' Paulson:
The west is f***ed. We f***ed it up. Oh, not just you and me. All of us. The west, it's done. It's over. You want to call it a game? This is the game. You want your great-grandchildren speaking Chinese? The dollar is going to go. We had Rome, then Europe then this. Us. This thing with cars and stereos and hula-hoops. And we screwed it all up. We ran through it all. This stuff. And we've come out on the other side where it's... I dunno. Where is this place? Oh yeah. We have this one weekend where maybe we can come up with something to hold it all together a little while longer.

Richard 'Dick' Fuld:
I want everyone on message about this: Our situation is serious, but it's not critical. I repeat, the situation is not critical. Bank of american wants us. Barclay's wants us. We can choose. and which ever we choose will fill us with new air. i need everyone to believe. YOU'RE ON THE THIRTY-FIRST FLOOR, GODDAMMIT! And I want this message to trickle downwards.