memeorandum: For immediate release — The Federal Reserve Board … (Board of Governors …)

8:05 AM ET, September 15, 2008

Top Items:

Financial Russian Roulette — Will the U.S. financial system collapse today, or maybe over the next few days? I don't think so — but I'm nowhere near certain. You see, Lehman Brothers, a major investment bank, is apparently about to go under. And nobody knows what will happen next.

Discussion: LewRockwell.com Blog, Boing Boing, Prairie Weather, Corrente, The RBC, Pacific Views and Calculated Risk

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System:

For immediate release — The Federal Reserve Board on Sunday announced several initiatives to provide additional support to financial markets, including enhancements to its existing liquidity facilities. — “In close collaboration with the Treasury and the Securities and Exchange Commission …

Discussion: Newshoggers.com, Financial Times, DealBook, Money & Company and Calculated Risk

Wall Street Journal:

AIG Scrambles to Raise Cash, Talks to Fed — Insurer Looks to Sell Automotive Business, Annuities Unit; — It Seeks $10 Billion in Fresh Capital as Downgrade Threatens — Insurer American International Group Inc., succumbing to relentless investor pressure that drove its shares down 31% …

Discussion: Real Time Economics, Brilliant at Breakfast, naked capitalism and Calculated Risk

DealBook:

Lehman Expected to File for Bankruptcy Protection — According to people briefed on the matter, Lehman Brothers will file for bankruptcy protection on Sunday night, in the largest failure of an investment bank since the collapse of Drexel Burnham Lambert 18 years ago.

Discussion: Firedoglake, Conglomerate, The Big Picture, Economist's View, naked capitalism, Dealbreaker and Whiskey Fire

David Henry / Business Week:

Wall Street's Perfect Storm — Investors deal with a Lehman bankruptcy, the sale of Merrill Lynch to BofA, and a possible AIG restructuring — Mondays better not get any more manic than this. — Wall Street expected to spend today trying to contain the damage from a bankruptcy filing by Lehman Brothers …

Discussion: Michelle Malkin and Maggie's Farm

Wall Street Journal:

Bank of America Reaches Deal for Merrill — In a rushed bid to ride out the storm sweeping American finance, 94-year-old Merrill Lynch & Co. agreed late Sunday to sell itself to Bank of America Corp. for roughly $44 billion. — The deal, which was being worked out in 48 hours of frenetic negotiating …

Discussion: Dealbreaker, The Big Picture, Truthdig, Firedoglake, naked capitalism, The Agonist, DealBook and Calculated Risk

Mike Allen / The Politico:

Bank meltdown wallops campaigns — America's banking instability could upend the final 50 days of the presidential campaign, with both candidates forced to confront a calamity that has gotten only glancing attention during the first 20 months of the race for the White House.

Discussion: EconLog, TIME.com, Agence France Presse and Grasping Reality …

DealBook:

A.I.G. Seeks $40 Billion in Fed Aid to Survive — The American International Group is seeking a $40 billion bridge loan from the Federal Reserve, as it faces a potential downgrade from credit ratings agencies that could spell its doom, a person briefed on the matter said Sunday night.

Discussion: ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Dealbreaker, Calculated Risk, naked capitalism and Eschaton

Hilzoy / Washington Monthly:

Donald Luskin Reclaims His Title — Even Donald Luskin, aka The Stupidest Man Alive (and inspiration for one of my rare attempts at parody), must be regretting publishing an op-ed called “Quit Doling Out That Bad-Economy Line” today: … He then presents a bunch of data — last quarter, he tells us, real GDP was up 3.3%.

Discussion: naked capitalism, Angry Bear and TBogg

Wall Street Journal:
Fed Plans Expanded Lending Facilities

Discussion: U.S. Securities …, New York Times, Angry Bear, Real Time Economics, Jay Currie, The American Mind and naked capitalism

Andrew Ross Sorkin / New York Times:
After Frantic Day, Wall St. Banks Falter

CQ Politics:
Sen. Claire McCaskill , Carly Fiorina Discuss Sarah Palin …

Discussion: The Corner and PoliPundit.com

L.L. Brasier / Detroit Free Press:

Bad voter applications found — Clerks see fraudulent, duplicate forms from group — Several municipal clerks across the state are reporting fraudulent and duplicate voter registration applications, most of them from a nationwide community activist group working to help low- and moderate-income families.

Discussion: Doug Ross, Betsy's Page, Gateway Pundit, Wake up America, Sweetness & Light and Riehl World View

Jeffrey Goldberg:

About that McCain Photo — Like others at the Atlantic, I was appalled to read about the actions of Jill Greenberg, the freelance photographer who took the cover portrait that illustrates my article about John McCain. Greenberg doctored photographs of McCain she took during her Atlantic-arranged shoot …

Discussion: Power Line, BAGnewsNotes, Right Wing News, Michelle Malkin, Pajamas Media, www.redstate.com, NewsBusters.org, Neptunus Lex, Patterico's Pontifications and Chicago Boyz

Andy Ostroy / The Huffington Post:

Why Replacing Biden With Hillary Makes Perfect Sense for Obama — Sen. Joe Biden's a perfectly appropriate vice presidential running-mate for Sen. Barack Obama. He's got 36 years of Senate experience, is a true intellect, a foreign policy expert, and a genuinely nice guy.

Discussion: Stop The ACLU

Lisa Lerer / The Politico:

Palin hit hard on the Sunday shows — Palin-mania continued to dominate the conversation on the Sunday morning talk shows, as Democrats slammed Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin for distorting her record in ads and on the campaign trail. — The attacks came in the midst …

Discussion: Open Left and Riehl World View

Gordon Smith / Conglomerate:

Monday? — This news about Lehman and AIG and Merrill is all more than a bit disorienting. “Chaos” is the word of the day in news reports. — What is going to happen on Monday? — Some people are talking about a massive sell-off of securities, but the early activity in Australia does not suggest historic movement.

Discussion: Associated Press, TigerHawk and StephenBainbridge.com

Jeanne Cummings / The Politico:

Despite record month, Obama needs more cash — Barack Obama's $66 million haul in August donations may set records but it's only a down payment on the huge sums the Democratic presidential nominee must continue to collect in order to compete through the Nov. 4 election.

Discussion: Prairie Weather and TIME.com

Ed Morrissey / Hot Air:

Sitemeter hears its critics, rolls back to old system — Sitemeter tried launching a new version of its popular web-traffic system this weekend, and the results were ..., well, poor in the extreme. How could they misunderstand their market so badly? Internet customers want open stats, both for themselves and their visitors.