What was on Bear Stearns' books that was scaring [Tim] Geithner and Bernanke? Well, I would say that unfortunately none of it scared them until the market seized up with lack of liquidity.

Alan “Ace” Greenberg was not only one of the “smartest arbitrageurs” on Wall Street, he stood at the helm of Bear Stearns when it was a “highly profitable machine,” said Henny Sender ...

Rose, Clayton S., Daniel Baird Bergstresser, and David Lane. "The Tip of the Iceberg: JPMorgan Chase and Bear Stearns (TN) (A), (B1), and (B2)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 309-072, January ...