A credit crater too big to fill?

As the movement of money across borders comes to a grinding halt, governments can only manage the decline. Don't be surprised to see markets roll back to 1995 levels -- or lower.


It's as if a set of asteroids hit Manhattan, London and Tokyo, carving a massive hole in the architecture of finance. The initial buildings in the impact crater, Lehman Bros. (LEHMQ, news, msgs), Bear Stearns and Northern Rock, were quickly incinerated. But now the toxic rain and tsunamis that were kicked up are rolling onto the survivors in waves and cutting off their air supply.
New data from world money centers suggest the movement of money around the globe has simply ground to a halt, as institutions in the United States, Europe and Asia that are receiving taxpayer dollars from governments are socking it away to shore up their balance sheets, reserve against liabilities expected in the near future and sustain their unprofitable operations.