Simon Johnson has coined the phrase, Lehman Brothers was Ice 9. How apt and if you don't know what ice-nine is, read Cat's Cradle.

A new memo was released which showed Lehman Brother's executives knew their bankruptcy would cause a domino effect to start the financial crisis.

Bloomberg got a hold of the confidential memo:

The warning was ominous: “Massive global wealth destruction.”

That’s what Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. executives predicted before they filed the biggest bankruptcy in U.S. history. “Impacts all financial institutions,” read one bullet point in a confidential memo prepared for government officials obtained by Bloomberg News. “Retail investors/retirees assets are devastated.”