As the witticism goes: If you owe the bank $10,000 and you can't pay, you have a problem... If you owe the bank $10,000,000 and you can't pay, they have a problem... Globe and Mail, Saturday Sept. 26, 1998 FUND RESCUED TO PREVENT MARKET CHAOS -Brian Milner and Andrew Willis- "The 14 powerful financial institutions pumping more than $3.5 billion (U.S.) into crippled hedge fund operator Long Term Capital Management LP said yesterday they acted to prevent disruption in global financial markets that could stem from a precipitous liquidation of the portfolio." As an aside, it is likely that the Canadian banks which did not participate in the bail-out and had (according to the article) only minor exposure to LTCM were presumably saved from this debacle because they were "too small to be global players"... But next time, after they will have had the opportunity to merge and thus become "global players", they too will have the chance to play (and lose) with the big boys at the high stakes craps table. regs Mike Gurstein
