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Momma Bernake is giving the bottle to Wall Street Bankers and Traders to keep their businesses afloat. Do you think they'd throw any of us a lifeline? Doubtful.

The markets my be volatile but the Internet is alive and well!

The Fed cut discount rate today by 50 basis points (1/2 percent) to 5.75% signaling its concern over the credit crunch and attempting to reassure markets. This and rate increases on bank deposit products show the need that banks have to gain deposit dollars and maintain liquidity.

On Friday, August 17, Countrywide increased its offering on 3-month, 6-month and 1-year CDs above those offered by its competitors. E-Loan now has the most compelling 2-year and 3-year CD rates. These increases have occurred in spite of a sharp decline in Treasuries the previous day.

So lets say you are insanely well connected, insanely rich or insanely lucky. You may be able to invest some of your money with a big hedge fund like ESL- Eddie Lampert's highly regarded fund.

It's becoming harder and harder to get a jumbo mortgage. Here's why.

The credit-crunch, Countrwide, Sowood Capital, etc. - they all come down to families like the Montes. As go the Montes, so goes the economy. Let's keep our fingers crossed.

The headlines are screaming today about the credit market catastrophe and its effects on the Street. Ah, sorry but I;m not seeing those effects, are you?

The collapse of Sowood Capital is a good example of the perils of leverage.

Angelo Mozilo strikes me as a pretty honest and very smart guy and I wouldn't dream of comparing him to Ken Lay or Bernie Ebbers, but Countrywide could easily go into an Enron-like death spiral if their access to credit dries up.

The second quarter data is out from the National Association of Realtors and prices are holding pretty steady.

As VMWare is soaring, EMC has been trending down despite the fact that EMC owns 90% of the company

I didn't write this, but it came across my desk today and I think that it is great explanation for the current market crisis so I've posted it here.

Rates are holding relatively constant.

The Uptick rule was a 73 year old SEC rule that made it more difficult to short stock. The SEC eliminated the Uptick Rule on July 6 and the Wall Street Journal reported today that it may be on contributor to the market's recent volatility.