there is NO $$$ CRISIS ...

repeat, "THERE IS NO CRISIS", other than those GOP members of the Senate and HoR facing a repeat of the 2006 election results, and those members of the Bush Administration who now have less than 2800 hours left to create as many problems as possible in order to preclude the AG/DoJ of the Obama Administration from having the resources and political will to fully investigate the criminality of the current Executive Branch bureaucrats.

there will simply be too much fixing to do, to spend time/money on rectifying the injustices of the past.

what you are seeing played out now in the world markets and headlines from Washington D.C. and Wall Street, is the exploitation of a manufactured "opportunity" to simultaneously accrue more power in the Executive (and now Congressional) Branches of the US Government, to consolidate power in a handful of financial institutions run by less than 100 people, and to hamstring/hogtie the next Administration's ability to significantly change domestic spending and foreign policies.

it may well also be a desperation measure, that if successful, will limit the GOP losses in the Senate and House, or at least provide the future smaller GOP minority with the return of a philosophical/ideological basis from which to oppose and inhibit the next Administration's policies. (either gridlock, contrast, or both)

and what are the poker "TELLS" that this financial "crisis" is manufactured ?

in the past nine weeks the US DOLLAR increased over 10% in value against a basket of world currencies. during a time in which the fallout from the failure of the two largest bank bankruptcies in US history, the takeover of the largest insurance company by the US Government in history, the swallowing whole or in part of the largest mortgage brokers in US history, and the unprecedented injections of trillions of dollars by the FED, both in direct and overnight lending, while simultaneously "draining the swamp" of liquidity to smaller banks, as the FDIC's account was drained to insure failed bank's depositors, while foreign-owned treasury bonds and failed/absorbed banks/brokerages' foreign-owned corporate bonds were guaranteed by the US FED/Gov at the very same time as shareholders of those corporations had their dividends revoked or suspended and the values of those shares were rendered either worthless or radically diminished.

and there's more. foreign stock markets gained more with each US FED/Govt action or announcement than did US markets. the election calendar and the evidence of multiple fore-warnings of the impending "crisis" over the past one, two, three, even four years, combined with the insistence of the markets and the US Govt that "something has to be done NOW" because "out entire economy is in danger" reveal the disingenuous self-interest of beltway politicians, money managers, and tv pundits whose yearly compensations share the commonality of having six or more ZEROS before the decimal point.

on top of all that, since the beginning of August, the DOW and the S&P500 averages have lost less than 2% in value. and since September 17, upon the "announcement" that the US Govt/Treasury was "considering" a "bailout"/"rescue" "PLAN" (since when does anyone believe politicians when they say they PLAN to do something, especially something to HELP ?) the DOW and S&P500 have gained over 5% in value.

some of the popular "thrill rides" at modern american amusement parks are but seats in a theatre. the seats move a little bit, but the images on the screen in front of them are filled with visual gyrations that give the eyes (and hence, the brain) the impression of great tumult. i expect the same thing is true for Wall Street, Washington D.C. and the media that "reports" on them.

watch the volume on the DOW, it reveals whether big $$$ institutions and/or the FED are "churning" the markets and their averages, or if investors are weighing in with either selling or investing (bargain hunting), and remember always that the market managers WORLDWIDE stand ready to plunge the averages at any moment they deem necessary in order to 'scare' the public and politicians to increase support for any 'deal' on the precipice of both failure/breakdown or support/agreement.