Well an unprecedented week in the financial markets.  What started in the summer of 2007 has become an acute situation of late.  We are witnessing losses of homes and jobs.  Paulson and Bernanke have come up with “drastic measures” for this man made hurricane.  There are those who applaud their measures and many others who have found fault.  At the end of the day, however, we must all be thankful that we still have the world’s strongest economy behind us.

Many compare what is happening to the Great Depression of the 30’s.  The major difference however, is that the government is aggresively reacting to ward off a similar crisis by pumping hundreds of billions of dollars into shoring up the economy.  You keep hearing that this is going to cost the taxpayer a trillion dollars.  Well that is not remotely true.  A trillion dollars may be at risk but the truth of the matter is, the government could end up making money on the exercise.  Don’t forget, they are buying assets and equity positions that they will later sell - hopefully at least at par but in a perfect situation, they could actually sell at a profit.  They are buying devalued assets to improve the companies balance sheets.  They are also using Fannie and Freddie to inject funds into the mortgage market to increase the purchase of mortgages.  James Lockhart the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency is quoted as follows “The overall objective is to contribute greater stability and liquidity in the mortgage market which should enhance consumers’ access to mortgage financing and ultimately result in reduced mortgage rates.”  Hope he’s right.

But you know, just when the roof is falling in - the Yanks win the Ryder Cup (don’t you love it when golf actually gets, well, loud) and Ronnie Brown and the Dolphins take apart the Patriots on their home field.

As Dan Rather said - Courage!