Image: commons.wikimedia.org

In June 2008, when I was still writing for DealBreaker, I explained:

Government officials who spoke to DealBreaker on the condition of anonymity said they are worried that the market is convinced the Federal Reserve won’t let a major US securities firm collapse. This is a cause for alarm because it indicates that investors are not taking into account full range of risks faced by investment banks, which could in turn remove an important market check on risky behavior. Although Lehman and its rivals have been pushing down debt levels recently, cheap debt that is unlinked to institutional risk could encourage a new round of re-levering, one official warned.

Ugh. It's tough to read that in retrospect. We now...