Um... What makes you think that Goldman is endangered? It stock price is only down 20% from 09/2007 which is bad but not even close to catastrophic (and significantly better than most other investment banks). Furthermore, it is one of the few financial institutions which foresaw (to a small degree) the oncoming subprime crisis (and made over $4 billion through shorts).
Right now things seem stable there, but the same could have been said of Lehman pre-Bear crisis. The problem is that like Bear and Lehman, Goldman relies on financing from other Wall Street firms to finance its operations. While a commercial bank like BofA also borrows money on a daily basis, it also has a massive base of deposits which it can use. More than 10% of our nation's deposits are held at BofA -- a staggering number. That's why BofA could afford to buy Countrywide and now Merrill, and why JPMorganChase could afford to buy Bear. If LIBOR (the interbank lending rate) spikes, if repo rates spike, if funding desks increase their haircuts (thereby limiting the amount of money that can be borrowed against a given par amount of collateral), firms like Goldman will find it much more expensive to operate. And given the troubles that other investment banks have had, I don't think banks are going to be very willing to lend to each other when we open up tomorrow morning.
Given the difference in market cap, I'd be surprised if either could afford it - GS =~ 60bn, MS =~ 40bn, WB =~ 33.5 bn on 835bn AUM. They're not exactly small, post A.G. Edwards.
You are not wrong, but stock prices are a reflection of trouble - just because trouble isn't reflected in a stock price yet doesn't mean there isn't any. Lehman's stock price 10 days ago being proof of that ;-)
