Somebody set us up the moneybomb! All your basis points are belong to us.

Bear is an investment bank, and does not have direct access to borrow money from the Fed. Lat week JP agreed to act as a kind of conduit for loans backed by some of Bear's more toxic assets.

Sounds stinky, eh? The thing is that the Fed and everyone else is scared stiff that Bear would default. That would set of a ricochet all through the banking and trading system. This buyout is actually the lesser of two evils, and the price is so low because no one really knows what liabilities and losses are to come.