Wall Street in Worst Loss Since 2001

[gristy]

Source: NY Times

WASHINGTON — In another unnerving day for Wall Street, investors suffered their worst losses since the terrorist attacks of 2001, and government officials raced to prevent the financial crisis from spreading.

Trading opened sharply down Monday morning, and the mood later turned even gloomier, despite efforts by President Bush and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., in separate appearances at the White House, to reassure markets that Wall Street’s deepening problems would not weaken an already anemic economy.

Amid worries that the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch over the weekend might not be enough to stop the downward spiral, stocks fell sharply in the last half hour of trading. By the end of the day, the Dow Jones industrial average had dropped 504.48 points, or 4.4 percent, as a record volume of more than 8 billion shares traded hands on the New York Stock Exchange. It was the biggest decline since Sept. 17, 2001 — the day the index reopened after the 9/11 terrorist attacks — when it fell 7 percent, or 684.81 points.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/16/business/16paulson.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

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The shock doctrine predicts this outcome, noted in the 7th paragraph:

The Fed also took steps to ease rules separating banks and investment banks, a move intended to make it easier for healthy companies on Wall Street, like Goldman Sachs, to buy up troubled institutions.

Those rules had been there for a reason. But those rules are now history.

[sharesunited]

1. Repeal of Glass-Steagall made it possible to open the Fed's discount window to investment banks.

[rwheeler31]

2. Points do mot matter, people matter.

[jacobfloyd]

3. And the Republicans had 7 years to fix that, and here we are . . .

:wtf:

[Festivito]

4. Try since 2000 election called for *, or S&L crisis, or 1929, ...

The comparison is not important. What's important is what more will happen.

It's going to get ugly.

Blaming Clinton for things that happened before he took office, for trades he made dealing with a rabidly Republican Congress is not helpful, just, reasonable, fair, etc. not good at all.