Daily Update: We Are All Suffering Now Edition

Well, it seems Europe, and Germany in particular, is not immune from the economic willies after all, and thus Germany is following the lead of Greece and Ireland in insuring all bank deposits.

Germany’s guarantee of its private savings — worth about 500 billion euros,or more than $700 billion— followed the news that a group of banks had pulled out of a deal to provide 35 billion euros, or $48.2 billion, to rescue the largeGerman mortgage lender, Hypo Real Estate.

(N.Y. Times)

This was soon followed late in the European night by another proposed deal to rescue Hypo.

Germany's government and financial regulators last night agreed to a second
bail-out package for Hypo Real Estate after the abrupt failure of a first
attempt to rescue the property lender.

(FT)

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Blax Alternate's complete and comprehensive vice presidential debate coverage:

Near start of debate:

Palin: Hey, can I call you Joe or Frank so that later in the debate I can use it in a hokey comeback line?

Biden: Sure. ("She looks like Bambi with those eyes. I want to kiss her like Obama kisses Jill").

Near end of the debate:

Biden: And that's why under McCain blah blah blah blah blah.

Palin: Oh NO! Say it ain't so, JOE! (I'll save 'Frank-ly my dear I don't give a damn for later', and I think I will wink to the cute man standing behind that thing pointed at me that almost looks like a studio camera.)

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As California goes, so goes the nation often enough. And as we may observe, financially speaking, Cali is going to pot, and Massachusetts is hard on their heels. Since the short term credit markets are sort of taking a vacay, California is speculating that $7 billion might be needed real soon; Massachusetts is still in the "What would you do if I did something bad and need help" phase of thinking through it sources of help. What they need, exactly, is still open to speculation. Can New York and Florida (facing a budget deficit of $1.4 billion) be far behind?

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Here is where the N.Y. Times tells us it's the end of the world we know it, the end of an era.

“It’s the beginning of the end of the era of infatuation with the free market,” said Steve Fraser, author of “Wall Street: America’s Dream Palace,” and a historian. “It’s the end of the era where Wall Street carries high degrees of power and prestige. And it’s the end of the era of conspicuous displays of wealth. We are entering a new chapter in our history.”

If we are true students of human nature, this shaky "era" will replaced by an entirely different era doing largely the same sort of thing (making money), but in different plumage. In an effort to be first, or profound, people rush to make judgements (like success or failure in Iraq) on what events mean before all the facts roll in.

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Iceland doing it for/to themselves:

Geir Haarde, prime minister,on Sunday met banking executives, including Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson,chief executive of Kaupthing, the country’s biggest bank,to discuss measures to ease the crisis, which has seen the Icelandic krona depreciate significantly and led to the quasi-nationalisation of Glitnir, the country’s third largest bank.

(FT)