Shocking news: Lehman Brothers, the No. 4 American securities firm, collapsed and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The news shocked not only the American financial sector but the entire world economy.

Founded in 1850 by the three Lehman brothers, the firm was known to have supported post-Civil War reconstruction of the U.S. economy. For such a giant company with 25,000 employees around the world and total assets worth 68 trillion yen, the end came rather abruptly.

I have repeatedly pointed to the dangerous possibility of the financial crisis triggered by the U.S. subprime loan problems resulting in major negative impacts on the real side of the economy. Signs had already been clear: some credit firms had collapsed, and personal spending, in real estate, automobiles and others, had begun to diminish. Since it has been whispered that a depression is not entirely unlikely if the current situation is poorly handled, I was surprised by the decision-making process leading to this conclusion.

Some with prying eyes suggest that the current situation is a natural outcome in the US election year, given the lame duck president and his equally lame duck key administrators unwilling to take bold steps to bail out falling individual financial institutions.

At the same time, I was impressed by the dynamic and speedy manner in which the administrators and leaders of the financial sector deliberated non-stop from September 12, when talks on a bailout started, all the way even on a Sunday to reach a conclusion by the deadline of the morning of the 15th, when US markets reopened. Those working on the bailout moved as expected as the world’s economic leaders.

It is reported that the private financial sector tenaciously insisted on a government bailout by using public funds, which the Department of Treasury and the FRB refused. Whether this conclusion and developments following this conclusion were appropriate or not will be proven by the US economy from now on. When I think of the so-called “lost decade” that Japan underwent due to the failure of economic reconstruction measures during the post-economic bubble recession, I have no hesitation to say that greater swiftness and severity will be needed in the US financial policies from now on.

As a corporate manager, I can’t simply be a spectator. The whole world is reacting to the situation in various manners, on stock and exchange markets, in oil prices, etc. In this situation, I believe that as business leaders it is our responsibility to carefully analyze the information and draw up and carry out the best possible management strategies.