Top 10 List of Reputations in Crisis for 2008
NEW YORK – The following is Mike “The Reputation Doctor” Paul’s Annual Top 10 List of Reputations in Crisis for 2008. This list is compiled by and solely the opinion of global reputation management expert Mike Paul. You’ve seen him weekly as a guest TV news commentator analyzing top individual and organizational reputations in crisis.
1. THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS
The rising defaults on subprime mortgages in the US triggered a crisis for money markets worldwide. Many of the world’s leading investment banks have collapsed as a result and the U.S. government has proposed a massive bail-out. The crisis has become one of the most radical reshapings of the global banking sector, as governments and the private sector battle to shore up the financial system following the disappearance of financial corporations like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch and Wachovia as independent entities and the $85bn government rescue of insurance giant, AIG. Nine large banks, including Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., Citigroup Inc. and JPMorgan Chase & Co., received $125 billion government bailouts. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed under government control for their debt-filled contribution to the worst mortgage crisis in history. The global financial crisis really started to show its tortured face in the middle of 2007 and hit the world hard in 2008. Around the globe stock markets have fallen and continue in crisis, national and worldwide financial institutions have collapsed or been bought out, and governments in even the wealthiest nations have had to come up with bail-out packages to save their financial systems.
