Black Monday? Or just another fun day on Wall Street?

In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself on Sunday to Bank of America for roughly $50 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis, while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, filed for bankruptcy protection and hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer.

The humbling moves, which reshape the landscape of American finance, mark the latest chapter in a tumultuous year in which once-proud financial institutions have been brought to their knees as a result of hundreds of billions of dollars in losses because of bad mortgage finance and real estate investments.

But even as the fates of Lehman and Merrill hung in the balance, another crisis loomed as the insurance giant American International Group appeared to teeter. Staggered by losses stemming from the credit crisis, A.I.G. sought a $40 billion lifeline from the Federal Reserve, without which the company may have only days to survive.

The stunning series of events culminated a weekend of frantic around-the-clock negotiations, as Wall Street bankers huddled in meetings at the behest of Bush administration officials to try to avoid a downward spiral in the markets stemming from a crisis of confidence.

NYTimes

No surprises here. These are the predictable consequences of a market that’s been systematically gamed for decades, and that went into full nonstop swindle mode after W. was selected.

Congress needs to make sure that no executives walk away from this trainwreck with anything in their pockets. The time for rewarding failure has passed, and it’s time to start handing out inserting the lumps of coal.

Krugman:

Will the U.S. financial system collapse today, or maybe over the next few days? I don’t think so — but I’m nowhere near certain. You see, Lehman Brothers, a major investment bank, is apparently about to go under. And nobody knows what will happen next….

Krugman, btw, says that IF this is Black Monday, blame Paulsen, not Bernanke. Oh, and needless to say, world markets are plunging. and the NYSE is down sharply in opening trading.

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It’s time the Times asked Bill Kristol for his notes. I can’t find a single line in this morning’s column that isn’t freshly assblown with no sign of research or forethought, just hackery piled on top of flackery.

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E.J. Dionne says what needs to be said a little more often:

So now we learn that Sarah Palin did not go to visit troops in Iraq, as the McCain-Palin campaign originally claimed, nor did she visit Ireland, as a spokesman claimed – she went through Ireland only for a refueling stop. Good reporting by the Boston Globe got to the truth of the matter. The McCain- Palin campaign was forced to concede the facts, but only after being pressed.

There’s a pattern here, two patterns actually. The first is that the McCain campaign is willing to peddle all sorts of untrue and half-true claims. The second is that the McCain campaign is clearly so uneasy about Palin’s patent lack of engagement with foreign policy that it has felt the need to greatly exaggerate what small bits of engagement she has had. (When ABC News’ Charlie Gibson asked her how Alaska’s proximity to Russia gave her insight into that country, Palin replied: “They’re our next door neighbors and you can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska, from an island in Alaska.” That’s reassuring, isn’t it? The Gibson interview also revealed the thinness Palin’s knowledge of domestic policy, particularly on the budget.)

There is also a question here for the media. When Hillary Clinton claimed last March that she had to evade sniper fire during a landing in Bosnia in 1996, the media came down on her hard. It was a huge story. But at least Clinton actually visited Bosnia. Will the media focus the same attention on the false and exaggerated claims about Palin? 

Dionne continues with the Gore meme, altho I’m not so sure how effective it is given that the major media after still to this day never admitted how they totally punked Al Gore in 2000. I remember never wavering on my decision to vote for Nader but still, at times, feeling sorry for the screwjob Al was getting.

Then Joe Fucking Lieberman would open his mouth, and that feeling would go far, far away.

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Toles has a good cartoon this morning, but it needs to be noted that the WaPost is still getting nasty mail over Pat Oliphant’s last (& increasingly rare) contribution:

I’m sure some will find this offensive, but probably not the same folks who find Oliphant’s hook-nosed Arabs offensive (and still others of us find his outstanding St. Paedophilia’s cartoons to be absolute classics).

As for this Chitrib story on Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL, if you have to ask, the answer must be yes. 

From the comments at Balloon Juice:

There were howls of laughter from the sizeable press corps covering Palin’s first foray on the campaign trail without her running man as a chaperone.

But, from the front of the plane, silence. The flight attendants assured us Palin and her entourage were watching. What she thought, though, is anybody’s guess.

Palin has yet to say so much as hello to the press corps.

ABC

Yes, here’s still more on Palinality:

Katha Pollit

The E&P Pub

Alec MacGillis

Howzabout equal time for Joe?

Katherine Roberts

Anti-Palin protest in Anchorage

Dig in the Earmark Queen  

Digby

Neiwert

Greenwald on The Bush Doctrine

Devilstower on small town values

Tild ****

Oh. Remember the horrible photoshops of George Bush as a girl? This is much, much worse. [Work safe, not that it won't make people run screaming from the room]

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No telling if Black Monday (assuming Bush doesn’t pull something out of his ass) will affect voter turnout. Seeing their pensions vanish could depress the turnout or it could lead to new records. In support of the latter, Virginia just ordered an extra 200,000 voter registration forms. That’s very bad news for McCain-Palin.

The Republicans have registered everyone they have to register. They did so a long time ago (look at the age of the people at their rallies). The polls (and what jokes they’re turning into) aren’t measuring the new voters or the cell phone users, and those two groups will bury McCain-Palin. 

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Jeez, even Chicago has 1,000 people who had to be evacuated due to flooding. It feels like it’s raining all over the world.

It’s like God is giving W. the pink slip.

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Dawn Turner Trice says Obama has to fight back, but that he can’t throw mud. I agree completely. Mud doesn’t raise your numbers, it just lowers your opponent’s. McCain’s agenda isn’t scoring points, but that doesn’t mean shit like this can’t lower Obama’s numbers.

In Minnesota that’s single-handledly put second-tier player Dean Barkley into the mix. He’s not doing well enough to win, but he’s doing well enough to pick the winner. 

I knew Jesse Ventura would make a winner out of Norm, but I suspect Barkley’s pulling more votes from Norm than he is from Al. 

Al could get very lucky….

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