Black Monday on Wall Street

Now everyone is going to feel the screwing they have been getting for the last seven plus years and they well not be able to ignore it.

In one of the most dramatic days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell itself to Bank of America for around $44 billion to avert a deepening financial crisis while another prominent securities firm, Lehman Brothers, hurtled toward liquidation after it failed to find a buyer, people briefed on the deals said. - New York Times

James K. Galbraith had this to say ... "The world will not be a better place with two free-standing investment banks—Goldman [Sachs] and Morgan [Stanley]—and a half-dozen major commercial banks, if that, running everything. Further, there is a risk that the unraveling will become disorderly and out of control from this point, as assets hit the market in fire sales and do not find takers. this will affect pension funds and greatly compound the collapse of the wealth position of the middle class.... the collapse of Wall Street will hit Main Street like Ike hit Houston."

And let us not forget who has given us this screwing - and not even a kiss before either - with this truism ... "The republicans always figure out a way to bring about economic despair for the normal people!" ... which any person alive now knows as did their grandparents when the last time the republicans fu_ked up the economy bringing on the GREAT DEPRESSION as did their grandparents when the republicans fu_ked up the economy bringing on the Panic during the 1880s. The whole reason for the party's existence is to fu_k up the economy so a select few can become richer and everyone else become poorer and has been from the start.

What others are saying about this:

"This is indeed the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression and occurring at a time when the US is falling in a now severe consumer led recession. The vicious interaction between a systemic financial and banking crisis and a severe economic contraction will get much worse before there is any bottom to it. We are only in the third inning of a nine innings economic and financial crisis. And the only light at the end of the tunnel is the one of the incoming train wreck." ~ Kontent News

"Suddenly, the term "too big to fail" is off the table. With Lehman Brothers likely to go into bankruptcy, Wall Street is preparing for a very rocky trading day. We'll get a hint of what's in store in a few hours when Asian markets open for business. Already, there's been an emergency trading session at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association to "reduce risk associated with a potential Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. bankruptcy." The ISDA was allowing customers to make trades and unwind positions linked to Lehman." ~ LA Observed