Roddy Boyd:

[On the morning of Tuesday, March 11], Goldman Sachs's credit derivatives group sent its hedge fund clients an e-mail announcing another blow. In previous weeks, banks such as Goldman had done a brisk business (for a handsome fee, of course) agreeing to stand in for institutions nervous, say, that Bear wouldn't be able to cough up its obligations on an interest rate swap. But on March 11, Goldman told clients it would no longer step in for them on Bear derivatives deals. (A Goldman spokesman asserts that the e-mail was not a categorical refusal.)

"I was astounded when I got the [Goldman] e-mail," says Kyle Bass of Hayman Capital. He had a colleague call Goldman to see if it was a mistake. "It wasn't," says Bass, who is a former Bear salesman. "Goldman told Wall Street that they were done with Bear, that there was [effectively] too much risk. That was the end for them"...

When word of the Goldman e-mail leaked out, the floodgates opened. Hedge funds and other clients, eventually running into the hundreds, began yanking their funds.

Blodget:

Should Goldman be blamed for this? Absolutely not. Bear Stearns was under-capitalized, over-leveraged, and stuffed to the gills with crappy debt. Once again, Goldman seems to have outsmarted the rest of Wall Street, spotting a problem before everyone else did.

That's the real take-away from this lil' BSC crisis-- how smart Goldman Sachs is. So smart, so pretty, so Goldman Sachs Sachs Sachy. Goldnutsacks'alicious. In fact, I've written to the powers that be at the OED and asked that they add an entry in honor of my favorite bank. Something like this:

Sachy (adj):
1. Delicious, entirely superior, beyond reproach.
2. Without peer (especially in the context of total superiority)
3. Omnipotent

Ex: The way Freddy executed that trade then fade after disseminating false information about a potential takeover of Luby's was positively sachy.

Etm. From the modern, Goldman Sachs (superior financial institution)

Syn: Superior, Unique, Peerless, Orgasmic
Ant: Thinkequityesque

Wall Street Shocker: Goldman Sachs Destroyed Bear Stearns! [Silicon Alley Insider]