I think we have just seen the Saint Patrick's day massacre. Some Dublin stock broking companies had to bring in extra staff to cope with the carnage. What's next?

Mick Murphy, Dublin,

Would Manufacturing Industrials get the same help if they got into trouble? No- because this would be seen as part of 'flight to the East' trend with all things to do with manufacturing.
Is the present situation with US Financials a re-adjustment of the balance of capital in favour of the East?

Saval, London,

Nick, Bedford

I do not subscribe to a philosophy of gambling and the stock market (aka the William Hill of the City) is not the means I would choose. There are alternatives.

No-one is going to be entirely free from the effects of this but those who invest in shares (the most fraudulent system ever devised) do so knowing the value can go up, down or be wiped out.... just like a slot machine.

PJW Holland, London,

With nobody lending to anyone..where is the money going to come from to pay for the olympics that nobody wants? We will be stuck in a Montreal 76 situation where the nation is still paying off the debt generations from now. Thankyou Gordon Brown and Tony Blair for putting this debt on my children!!

GW, Liverpool, united kingdom

to all of you who have contributed comments on this situation, I suggest the marvelous internet film on Google, "The Money Masters." It explains the current crisis with absolute clarity, and all the world banking history which brought us to this point. When you learn the intentions, the weapons, and the tactics your enemy plans on using against you, it is possible to defend yourself and your money with success.

victor compton, Cherbourg, France

Look at the state of the U.S! Cutting their interest rates has only fueled the fire and made their currency collapse to record levels. And all this because Greenspan lowered rates to half of one percent per annum and thus caused the housing bubble and the public to borrow far more than they could afford. What a mess! Don't even THINK about lowering rates!

pedro tam, London, U.K.

Bush notes that, in the long term, the US economy will be fine: no doubt that is true, just as it was true in 1929 - for a sufficiently high value of "long-term".

James E. Petts, Burnham, England

In 1928 it was predicted that the long boom would never end, the modern capitalist economy would provide profits and riches forever etc ,etc. 1929 came bust and depression.
As usual Mammon is the root cause and a slump and depression are as inevitable as night foollows day. Gordon Brown took credit for the boom years - who for the bust?

Stuart Brown, Rickmansworth, UK

Bear Stearns paid out millions in bonuses only weeks ago. Now they're bankrupt and the fed bails them out with tax payer money, thus allowing them to keep bonuses?

Are they for real? Taking tricks out of Darlings book wouldn't be advised!

Kv, London,

Time is ripe for BoE to cut interest rates before further damage is done. Interest rate cuts cannot be held ransom to inflation numbers.

The bank has to act and cut interest rates. That is the only way to prevent markets from falling down further. ECB too needs to join in the act and cut interest rates. The next omnious crash to happen would be Property prices.

I just cant believe that Bear Stearns were sold for just $2 a share compared to their price of $30 on Thursday.

The worst is yet to come. An all out recession would inflict lot of pain to the global economy. Thousands of jobs would be lost. Governments would try to increase revenues by way of increase in taxes.

Hope BoE acts sooner than latter !!!!!

james, London, London

So, we were all happy when we collectively decided that we were all richer because our houses were worth more. What a foolish thing to have been happy about.

How unhappy we will all feel when our houses are worth less.

Costas, Cyprus,

One senses this is the end of capitalism as we have known it for over a century. What comes next?

Roger L, Cambridge, UK

abharrisson, london,
I would tend to agree with the sentiments. But I think the problem is that, due to the complexity around the structure of the sub-prime market which involves multiple financial vehicles, the Banks don't know the worst downside of the potential losses. This is what is scaring them to death and making it impossible to borrow funds.

John, Reading, uk

As the post from Abharrisson from London says, its all a confidence shock leading to a kind of self fulfilling prophesy where if you believe it will happen, it most likely will. You only have to take a look at the large losses made by HSBC in the subprime market and then look at their health profit and dividens this year to see business is doing well

Karl, London,

Quick, print more money!!! All this 'liquidity' is devaluing Sterling ever further.

Paul, Coventry,

About a decade ago, Nick Leeson was a "rouge trader" that brought down a bank. Now there must be a few hundred (at least) of them who are going to bring down the global banking system as we know it and I just hope that these greedy people will serve their time(in jail). This has to be the biggest fraud in history. Where are all the bank executives that sanctioned bonuses being paid to people that were betting the future of the institutions?

Omosare Omogbagi, Barton Seagrave,Kettering, UK

PJW. So you don't have a pension fund then? Relying totally on the state and not bothering to save?

Share price falls on this scale impact everyone. Being happy about it just shows ignorance of the whole situation.

Nick, Bedford,

And we have Alastair Darling, as valiant as ever Grace was in his insistence that his boss has left him a sturdy lifeboat to weather the storm, as rash in expending our scant resources upon a Northern Rock that will sink him and us.

He is treating cancer with aspirin. In my own field, defence, the crazy extravagance of the new carriers and the Trident replacement, the frigates and Astute submarines that are needed only to escort these, such Typhoons as have not yet been delivered, and our super-abundance of star-rank officers, can no longer be afforded. Every other area is as grossly self-indulgent.

We need a Chancellor with the backbone to cut the waste that pervades our society and drains the strength from our economy.

Noel Falconer MEcon, COUIZA, France

This is all an illusion. We have been told for ten years by those who say they know best that there will be no return to boom and bust.

Just one question, though. If banks won't lend their own money to banks, why does the Government think it should lend them OUR money. Do they know something the market doesn't, or are they just stupid?

David Williams, Eastnor, England

Is this it then everyone? Is this the day that will be announced a crash?

I really cannot tell how much longer the fall on the FTSE can continue. How far down does it have to be to be considered a crash?

charles, Cirencester, Great Britain

ETF's allow us commoners access to commodities. I have two at the momemtn Lyxor Gold ETF and AIG Grain ETF. Both are quoted on LSE and you don't have to pay stamp dury on them

Mike, London,

Serves the banks right for preying on the poor and ignorant. I think this whole fiasco with the banks, as of late, should be a wake up call to people that Laissez Faire does not work. Banks should all be government ownedand the economy should be completely planned.

Dr. Matthew Clarke, Calgary, Canada/AB

Contributor asks what asset class is there left to invest in? In two years time there will still be a shortage of land and housing and rising energy cost in urban Europe so I would back anyone planning to buy distress sale office or industrial property and convert it to housing or low carbon footprint premises especially at this time when construction is going to be easy to buy competitively. In short, back trends

John Nielsen, London, UK

The whole issue is about trust.
AAA rated junk assests and derivatives have been changing hands "on trust" for years. Now that bankers realise that they have been all been guilty of missrepresentation regarding these "investments" and are about as trustworthy as a street scam "find the lady" card trickster. In the current climate bankers can't even trust themselves. If I was a bankers Grandmother, I would be very wary of any investment advice from my Grandson.

Paul , London,

Banking is so simple that you wonder how they can get it so wrong. Borrow money at one price, lend it out at a higher price and keep the difference.

Frank Upton, Solihull,

I am starting to wonder whether there is any asset class that is worth investing in at all! Equities are not good, bonds may default, cash seems risky, commodities are not available to Mr Average and both residential and commercial property are precicted to slide. What should people do with their assets? Spend them presumably!

Michael, London,

Why not go to Heather Mills, she has got plenty of cash going.

RD, UK,

And all because they had interest rates too low to long and drove a bubble not seen this side of the 1930's!

I do hope the European Arrest Warrant serves its (non racist) purpose.

Austin Tassletine, South West, UK

If the UK banks are rushing to borrow 23 thousand million pounds I would suggest that the rest of us rush to our banks and remove our deposits. If various smooth operators in pin-stripe suits appear on tonight's News programmes telling us that everything is fine, the economy is sound and we needn't panic, then if you didn't get your money out today you're probably too late.

eric campbell, harrogate, uk

Great news for headline writers. I just wonder how long it can continue. If you put the headlines to one side for a moment, most of the issues are being caused by fear not by a weakness... banks have lost money in subprime, but that in of itself is very small beer compared to the issues of confidence. Bear Stearns didn't fail becasue it had lost loads of money, it failed becasue no one would lend to it, the same is true of northern rock. Libor rates reflect this lack of confidence.
The issue is that as long as the lack of confidence continues things will get worse and as things get worse the lack of confidence will continue. One thing that is true is that if all the banks wrote off their "potential" loss within subprime leaving a potential upside not a potential downside then things could recover quite quickly. If getting the bad news out is further delayed then real longer term economic problems will emerge.

abharrisson, london,

Surely the exposure of our banks to the American problem lies in the disparity between our respective interest rates. Our banks borrowed heavily in the American market at cheap rates. They borrowed short term and lent long term. Once the Americans faced a problem they would not re-lend.

If I am correct the present continued excessive interest rates here will, in time, encourage further reckless behaviour by the banks. If they were their own customers the rug would have been pulled long ago.

When it comes to the owners of shares.... I can shed only crocodile tears.

PJW Holland, London,