A TPM reader makes an interesting point that, while the CW holds that the Lehman bankruptcy is to blame for the financial meltdown, the AIG bailout could have been the real culprit:
I have little idea how the writers of narrative journalism, like the NY Times' Andrew Ross Sorkin decide between Lehman and AIG, when both events occurred simultaneously, but I suspect they ask industry insiders. And, industry insiders have a strong interest in blaming the failure-to-bailout, since such blame is useful politically, in motivating future bailouts. But, as a matter of objective economics, it doesn't make all that much sense. And, as a basis for criticizing Geithner's competence? Please.
Of course, it's the Geithner people who have been pushing the story that he opposed letting Lehman go bankrupt, so they certainly seem to believe it's a basis for touting his competence.
--Jason Zengerle