A Distressed Lehman Brothers Replaces Erin Callan and Ian Lowitt

Effective immediately Erin Callan, the CFO of Lehman Brothers (LEH) stepped down from her post and has been replaced with Ian Lowitt. Lowitt, a former executive of Lehman Brothers. Additionally, Joseph Greggory will replace Herbert McDade III has COO. McDade has been the head of Lehman Brother's equities division since 2005. Less than 3 dollars off its 52-week low, the stock closed today at $22.70 per share on the NYSE. The company's stock value has dropped by more than $60.00 a share along with many other large financial institutions due to the economic slowdown and housing bubble.

Many see recent executive shuffle as being just another yard in the long and ugly downward spiral this company has been experiencing. With a forecasted $2.8 billion dollar lost on the horizon and the seeking of $6 billion in raised capital, this company needs money and leadership in a bad way; clearly Erin Callan and Ian Lowitt weren't offering that.

Luckily I have no ownership of Lehman Brother's stock and have steered clear of most large financial institutions, with the exception of Anally (NLY). Even still, I feel my nerves as a young investor to be quite shaky before each trade I execute. With the sound companies I invest in, I always need to consider that no matter how good any single stock's fundamentals are, the natural market forces can make a lot of people lose money.

Yet, with every tragedy is an opportunity. Many amazing stocks are at record lows and are by all definitions pure bargains. I am a personal fan of ecologically sustainable companies, specifically semi-conductors and solar. With market volatility being the main concern of people who've invested a lot of their money into stocks, the time may not be now to delve deeper. For myself, a relatively new investor, I am looking for the next bubble and trying to catch whatever train I can straight to the next bull rally, whether it is solar, wind power or salt water de-salination.

Many people will not have the stomach to enter the stock market in its current conditions. With the election year upon us, Lehman Brothers removal of Erin Callan and Ian Lowitt won't be the only executive shuffling displays we'll see. Depending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the policies of the next president, an entirely new economic picture could shape up and make for a starkly different outlook on what will be the money-making industries to come.

At least one can look at the firing of executives as a healthy choice by a company that has respect for its stock holders rather than hiding crippling losses on the books like Enron did. Rather than going to prison, these executives are sacrifice in a larger ritual in hopes of saving Lehman Brothers. The sad state of affairs is that someone must be the scapegoat and in this case, at this moment, Erin Callan and Herbert McDade are it.