even by the standards of the worst financial crisis for at least a generation, the events of sunday spetember14th and the day before were extraordinary. the weekend began with hopes that a deal could be struck, with or without government backing, to save lehman brothers, america’s fourth-largest investment bank. it ended with lehman’s set for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and the bank preparing to wind itself up after those efforts failed. other vulnerable financial giants scrambled to sell themselves or raise enough capital to stave off a similar fate. merrill lynch, the third-biggest investment bank, sold itself to bank of america (bofa), an erstwhile lehman suitor, in a $50 billion all-stock deal. american international group (aig) brought forward a potentially life-saving overhaul and went cap-in-hand to the federal reserve.
即使以至少一代人所经历的最坏的金融危机的标准来看，上周六及周日（9月14日）的事件仍是非同寻常的。那个周末开始于拯救美国第四大投行雷曼兄弟的交易有望达成