Rumours are surfacing that it is Hank and his Wall Street cronies tanking markets today in order to force the Democrats to sign the mega bail-out package without introducing any changes. See special trading note below from Bill Cara this morning.

Also, there have been reports that a large portion of Caspian Sea crude has been shut-in due to platform problems. We will see the affects of this news as the day progresses.

Regards - VHF

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Bill Cara

September 22, 2008

ADDENDUM 11:15am ET: DJIA -175 points; XLF -4.8%

This present sell-off by (almost exclusively) the Financials is, I strongly believe, Wall Street selling down their own (probably covered with options) stocks in order to try to force Congress to quickly sign the Paulson Plan. I believe the Plan should be signed without agreeing to put Paulson's decisions above the law, and requiring approval for subsequent relief packages. Then Paulson should be asked to resign. I would also like to see the Dem's stay out of this bill with their absurd plans to "protect" home-owners. Moreover, as much as executive compensation has been a disgusting issue, it ought to be addressed elsewhere -- not in this bill or any other bill. Please, Congress, leave us free capital markets after this storm has passed.