Bear Stearns: Two Years After

Two years ago Bear Stearns famously fell after two of its hedge funds imploded (often seen as the tremor before the quake called the credit crisis) and a government-brokered sale was hatched that sent the cowboy of Wall Street to JPMorgan Chase for $2 a share, a deal that was later increased fivefold to an Alexander Hamilton per share.

Today, in an interview with Bloomberg, former Bear CEO and Chairmman Ace Greenberg kept his cards close while revisiting the end of Bear. Ace had no comment when pressed for his thoughts on Senator Dodd’s financial reform bill and dodged other questions, including about the problem of proprietary trading at banks.

However, Ace did pitch his forthcoming book on Bear’s demise and said he still hangs with the ole Bear crew from time to time, though one crew member he hasn’t heard from in awhile is Jimmy Midnight Toker Cayne.

In addition, Ace gave props to Benny Bernanke and Timmy Geithner, saying, "We were heading right toward the toilet" and "I give full credit to the people who got us out of this … these guys have done a great job … they did what had to be done [and] whatever they did, it worked, and we’re now on the road to real recovery.”