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.

It's 3am on Wall Street  —  During the primary the Clinton campaign posited the idea that a President would face a 3am call on the economy.  It looks like one of those 3am calls came this weekend as the government made the decision to let Lehman Brothers go bankrupt rather than bail the firm out.

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 …

US in ‘once-in-a-century’ financial crisis : Greenspan … The United States is mired in a “once-in-a century” financial crisis which is now more than likely to spark a recession, former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan said Sunday.  —  The talismanic ex-central banker said that the crisis …

Statements on Wall Street  —  Both candidates blame the government for today's crisis on Wall Street.  Obama, though, blames the underlying conservative philosophy of deregulation; McCain suggests that it's “a system that handicaps our markets” and “the outdated and ineffective patchwork quilt …