Today we see the biggest drop on all markets.

What is happening now is beyond anyones control. The markets will be all about capital preservation for the rest of this week - hopefully to find a bottom.

Nobody can guess where prices will end up. Most likely new lows everywhere.

Anybody who is out at the moment because of Tax Loss Selling might just be very lucky.Sometimes Luck is better then Brains.

I wish it wasn't so, but we need to face reality. All equities are tumbling.

The financial Institutions are to blame for this mess and should be held accountable. Short Selling of all stocks should be banned -at least for now.

Many stocks are selling below cash value and no buyers. Properties + Cash = ROI in normal markets. It will take time to get back to these basics.

Watching and hoping to buy NOT on the rebound after hitting bottom, wherever that may be.

GL

LeMetropoleCafe.com (Midas) - It's Over:

To all; it's over. The European banking system is unraveling after a bank failure in Iceland of all places was the chain link that broke. The EU countries met today to form some sort of bailout plan for the banks and when all was said and done, it is now every country for themselves, no agreement was reached between Germany and the Latin countries. Russia's market was down more than 40% over the last 2 days and closed down 1% today after P.M. Medvedev pledged another $36 Billion to the banking system. The British P.M. and the Chancellor of the Exchequer are meeting on a bailout for the British banks. British credit cards are being declined for use in Europe proper. The Fed is now paying interest on funds deposits to put a floor in on rates so they can literally pump unlimited $s into the system without pushing rates to 0. The Fed also announced that they will backstop the commercial paper market with liquidity. Libor rates went higher again today, and the Treasury announced yesterday that they can make direct investments in any corporation. The best of all is the margin call by JP Morgan to Lehman Bros. [bankrupt] and Merrill Lynch [now part of Bank America who went to market today for $10 Billion in new capital that was undersubscribed]. I wonder if they'll be paid?

We are witnessing panic on the part of governments worldwide, they are fiddling while Rome burns. They might as well fiddle as there is no solution, the banking system missed the ditch and is going off the cliff. The news cycle is jamming up because more and more "solutions" are announced on a daily basis as the world turns and markets open [or try to]. The banking system worldwide is in a spiral stage that even if panic is stemmed, it will rear it's ugly head again a day, 3, or 7 later. Panic is the absolute outcome here, this has gone too far, too wide, and the infection is too deep to be reversed. Nothing goes straight down, and this is no different, but we are witnessing the end of the banking system.

I don't think there are any band aids left that can last more than 3-5 days at a time. Gold and Silver [and the shares] will catch a bid that has never been seen before. Couple this bid with virtually no supply and the results will be a move to the upside in an asset class as has never been seen nor imagined before. I spoke over the weekend with a liaison to several European banks and he advised me that a waiting period of at least 3-4 weeks for Gold delivery is now the norm. He has never seen anything like this in his thirty years. As the banking system unravels, whatever little physical supply that is left will disappear. The jig is up, either you are out of the paper system or you go down with it. There will be NO paper survivors, either you are a charter member of the next banking system or you will be leapfrogged and left behind.

The Price of Gold will be beyond the reach of the common man. This has got to be the plan, the only way to recapitalize the banks is to revalue Gold up 10 fold, 100 or even 1000 fold. This is no joke, currencies will devalue and approach zero in many many cases. This is not 1929, it is WORSE for several reasons. The biggest being our currencies are bad. Back then the world had a hard and real currency, Gold. The level of debt back then looks highly conservative when compared with today's circus. The world went to sleep and woke up with more debt and more risk than all the previous asset bubbles combined. This IS the biggest financial BUST of all time, by multiples. This is it, it is over.
Bill Holter