Urgently moving to contain a deepening credit crisis, the Federal Reserve is trying to restore confidence in panicked financial markets by becoming a lender of last resort for Wall Street investment houses that on Monday can begin securing short-term emergency loans.

Combination of misfortune and inaptitude. He started off with a full fledged crisis in the dotcom crash, graduated to panic with 9/11, pulled the rug off under the economy with the Iraq war and he's signing off with a festering global mess in the housing and financial sectors...

Question is, would the Administration be so stupid as to play with fire?

The White House is preparing to grant tax rebates for individuals and businesses in an attempt to boost the American economy as Goldman Sachs yesterday became the latest bank to give warning that recession is going to hit the United States this year.