A small learjet they were in tried to take off when something happened to make the pilots try to abort the takeoff.  Unfortunately, they were unable to do so and the plane crashed thru a berm and stopped, then apparently burst into flames.  6 people were on board the plane when the accident happened and 2 made it out - that is truly a miracle!

Witnesses saw 2 people run from the wreckage on fire and attempt to pat each other out. The fact that those 2 men made it out alive is amazing.  What happened on board that made them realize the need to immediately flee?  Or was it that the ‘personal assistants’ do what they do best - put their charges first?

I don’t know either of these guys so I don’t want to make a judgement call but here it is anyway - there must have been a reason they were saved and there’s a huge karmic debt to be repaid now - I sincerely hope they realize that.

More about it?  Check out MTV news.

Wow, amid the rumors of recession, rising gas prices and general freaking out in the US, WAMU is attempting to auction itself off to the highest bidder.  Apparently, WAMU has been plagued with huge mortgage losses and many in the know have expected this to happen for a while.  WAMU has brought Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on board to attempt a sale to possible buyers such as Citigroup, HSBC Holdings, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo - according to buzz online.

Ok, so how does Washington Mutual, the largest US savings and loan bank go about falling so far?  Are mortgage losses that bad? An online source says that WAMU may, “in a worst case scenario, … face the same fate as mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp, which regulators seized in July.”

WOW! More info: “Washington Mutual has lost $6.3 billion in the last three quarters and was downgraded to junk status by Moody’s Investors Service and Standard & Poor’s. The bank has projected $19 billion of mortgage losses until 2011.”  DOUBLE WOW.  It’s hard for me to fathom how this happens, but apparently, they are losing their shirt, as it were.

I have a close friend working for WAMU and I’m slightly concerned for her and her boyfriend at this point.  What happens to the jobs when a company is auctioned off like this?  I’m assuming that perhaps WAMU should have been cutting some costs somewhere…but perhaps that’s just a drop in the bucket as they say?

And I wonder what this will do to the business market as a whole.  Something as awesome as a HUGE WELL-KNOWN bank crashing and burning has GOT to cause some major waves.  How does this effect the people who bank at WAMU?  I personally, left WAMU 7 years ago because I absolutely hated dealing with their customer service people, branch people and the slew of stupid, extra fees they tried to make me pay…

Interesting.  It will be even more interesting to watch the fall out.  Maybe my friends need to start looking for new jobs?

Washington Mutual ended June with $309.7 billion of assets and 2,239 branches.