Since 9/11 the markets have been keep alive on credit life support. It's time to pull the plug and let the market(s) die its natural death. To continue with lower interest rates is to say it's OK to continue with the credit bubble. To raise rates is to cut off economic stability. I say the ECB, BoE, BoJ & Fed should just do nothing more and let the markets die of the ingestation of too much money applied with too much foist.

Henry Schweinbold, jacksonville, FL

As Elvis Costello once sang "Let em dangle"

Bill, Montreal, Canada

Is this black Wednesday all over again? Buildings built on sand foundations.

Harry Sahota, Gillingham, Kent

If you live by the sword or like a lot of neo-cons do;
preach by the sword, you should do the honourable
thing, "you know the last phrase ".

"Can't buck the market ".... there's another myth dead.

Yes, Mr king you have my permission in using my savings
next week to save the jobs of some pointless stockbroker
type's and give your rotten system some creditability.

and mr Redwood wants to give you more freedom............
like what.................. ?

How can you throttle reality even more than you do already.

M walker, nr Bromsgrove, worc

Central bankers these days are no different from the central planners in the old Soviet Union. They started intervening when the market rates jumped above the interbank rate that they had set. However, is this not how free markets are supposed to work? The market rate is the rate at which the banks believe they should loan money to each other based on supply and demand, not based on what the ECB and the Fed think it should be. I am sure even Karl Max will agree.

anthony, london, England

Our subprime is self-cert mortgages.

Do we now have to worry about the value of sterling these days?

If the BoE reduced interest rates would sterling fall too far?

What about the millions of gold-plated pensions paid to longer living former civil servants from general taxation?

Is our golden Brown economy simply a trick based on easy and cheap credit?

Maybe our golden Brown economy is simply brown!!

Costas Papadopulos, London,

when i owe the bank £3k on my overdraft because of my appetite for risk (horse racing) its my problem. they say how stupid i am for gambling and wont give me another penny till i learn.
when merchant banks have an appetite for playing instruments (gambling) of mass financial destruction they blame central banks. central banks accept blame and throw unlimited amounts of money at them.
crazy
when will they ever learn

michael mckeary, paisley, scotland

Why are they injecting cash in to the markets? What ever happened to the free market?

Aidan, London, UK

i play the risk game and my banker refuse,s me more money until i learn to give the gi gi,s a miss
merchant banks play weapons of mass financial destruction and central banks throw money at them until they learn to get it right, they never do

michael mckeary, paisley, scotland

I firmly believe that Fed & Co should just give money - free
non refundable to all Big Merchant Bankers, they just made honest mistake - we all make mistake, just bail them out.
After all why do we have Fed & Co, of course to bail out Wall Street & Main Street, we must make all these big financial institute running without any hitch, they make mistake, reward them with immediate bail out, it is the first duty of Fed & Co.
We can't afford to have big institution fail. Bush & Co will be
very upset if financial markets keep falling, it must keep going up not down. Fed & Co worldwide knows very well that pumping money is the only way to keep market floating and going up. Let us keep the market up - and more up. Dow
at 15/17K will boost Fed's reputation that they are super genius. Keep pumping Mr. Ben, keeping pumping.

Arvind Patel, Pune, India

So the central banks have created more money - debt - out of thins air to add to all the other debt that the banking system has created. And they are prepared to create yet more debt to stop their ponzi scheme collapsing - for the time being.

Alan Heaton, Frankfurt, Germany

When consequences of possibly sometimes imprudent over-lending on a scale greater than before (assisted by new techniques of credit management and creation) inspire unexpected action and comment by high authorities intended to reassure, there can be a perception of trepidation which might have similarities to that experienced by some on the vessel Titanic.

dr venables preller, Warminster, UK

Yet again, central banks are coming to the rescue of the markets! and by baling out organisations and individuals who clearly have made poor financial decisions (gambles?), the central banks merely encourage further waves of speculation and poor investment decisions (Moral hazard). Still, as irrational contagion spreads, i suspect that there will be very good opportunities to purchase good high quality assets such as FTSE 100 companies, sold down to meet losses elsewhere. Warren Buffet and other investors would certainly approve.

mervyn hinton, london, uk

Where were the financial regulators when the causes of this problem started to occur? Why didn't they identify and stop this abuse? It is pretty obvious - you don't lend to people that cannot pay and a simple risk assessment by the lenders and the regulators should have envisaged an increase in interest rates to this level or beyond at some point during the life of a mortgage. As the regulators / governments have failed in their duty it is right that they should support the markets now. Have we a new pension crisis in the making if this is not rectified?

David Buchan, Welwyn Garden City,

I would like to buy some pounds for 95p please. Could one of the above banks get in touch with me. Or is it only for bankers, this deal?

eric campbell, harrogate, uk

Why should any money be handed out by the central banks to private companies (ie banks) that took a commercial risk and lost?

Glyn Evans, Nottingham, England

Why has it taken the so-called professionals so long to realise the threat in lending funds to people who will have major difficulty in repaying their mortgages and taken steps to prevent the catastrophe that has occured. We small investors rely on their bumbling expertise to protect our investments but there would appear to have been a serious shortage in the application of their experience. I heed the warning that shares can go down as well as up but on this occasion it would appear that there has been a serious shortfall in the ability of the culprits.

K.Ingles, Ivybridge, UK

So after years of record profits the banks and hedge funds have got themselves into deep problems. It beggars belief that instead of them having to suffer from over indulgence and pure speculation that their gambling (there is no other word!) will be rectified by the central banks. Exactly what lesson does this teach the financial markets?
What about the millions of American homeowners who have lost everything, I have yet to hear of any aid for them. Yet these were known to be the most vulnerable people in society, yet the "whizz kids" from the city receive a compensation package. I, for one would be much happier to see heads roll and the markets to suffer, just so lessons can be learnt.

John Hughes, nagoya, japan

My concern is with my deposit accounts. For this you must try to identify risky assets on the balance sheet. My bank shows twice shareholders' equity in Mortgage & Asset Backed Securities plus a statement on Bloomberg by the Head of that department that "deals were going so fast there was no chance to check collateral". Indeed. And for what are bank officers paid? Bob Diamond of Barclays mentioned that the bank's interest income would hardly be affected. That's not the point. You need to find out if the bank's capital will be impaired when assets are marked to market. Supposing auditors will insist downgrades by rating agencies be applied,
then quarterly statements should be watched. But I found two big Dutch banks where such assets were "grossed up", impossible to identify; a big Swiss bank with 3X equity in what iis fast looking like "junk". You must make sure your securities are segregated in case your bank tanks, better make a frantic search - like me - for a "clean bank"

w foulkes, HAUT ITTRE, BELGIUM

This is quite simply a result of ultra low interest rates since 9/11 and the failure to restore them back to neutrality sooner. May have done wonders in the short term but for the longer term, an aboslute disaster. My view was that the central banks panicked quite unnecessarily at the time and it would be an even bigger mistake to cut rates in response to this latest crisis which is a result of their past interest rate decisons...

cww, Ipswich,