Bear, Stearns to Vanish

I don't know if this is the first "major" casualty of the subprime bond market, but Bear, Stearns is about to disappear from the scene.

On Friday Bear Stearns , the fifth largest U.S. investment bank, said a cash crunch forced it to turn to the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan for emergency funds, intensifying fears of a widening global credit crisis and driving its shares down as much as 50 percent. It also stepped up efforts to find a buyer.

On the same day S&P lowered its long-term counterparty credit rating on Bear to "BBB" from "A," and it placed long-and short term ratings on credit watch with negative implications.

Because of that S&P downgrade, bankers have now come to the conclusion that a deal must be done by Monday morning because no one on the street will trade or lend to Bear Stearns, which is rated a notch above junk bond levels.

Bear, Stearns was a major underwriter of State of Wisconsin bonds when Tommy (Stick-It-To-'Em) Thompson was Governor.

Just a reminder: Bear Stearns is NOT a commercial Bank. They do not accept deposits for your household checking and savings accounts. The FDIC is not involved here. (This reminder is written for the benefit of RadioMouths who don't know the difference...)