"If it goes down, it'll go down in the next couple days"

First Bear Stearns, then Fannie and Freddie, now Lehman?

Lehman is looking for a buyer for its whole operation. That's right, the entire organization. What are the chances the 158-year-old investment bank is gobbled up?

Well, I overheard this from Wall-Street reporter Charlie Gasparino on CNBC, a few moments ago:

The betting is that Lehman will cease to be an independent firm within the next few days.

But who are the potential suitors? While Lehman is the smallest of Wall Street's major firms, it is indeed a major firm and is no small fish. It will take an even bigger fish if it is actually to be gobbled up. But if Mr. Gasparino is right, somehow Lehman won't exist by this coming Monday. If so, the crisis in the credit economy will grow only more historic.