About a week and a half ago- large banking institutions (our most trusted names in the financial industry- Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, AIG) started to wobble and were on the verge of failure. Some went bankrupt, some were sold and some were taken over. The US treasury secretary, Hank Paulson came up with a bail out plan that he thought would bring confidence back to the US and global markets.

Financial uncertainty

As time went on, the government was unable to agree to this plan and the lack of confidence in our banking system caused widespread panic. Over this past weekend, policy makers attempted to come to an agreement on a revised bail out plan. Today it went to vote, and failed. The US equity market had its largest one-day drop in ten years. There continues to be across the board financial uncertainty about which banking institution may go bankrupt next and therefore whether our money is safe. Needless to say, everyone feels “up in the air” as to what will happen next. As a nation who collectively holds an unknown financial future- today, an anxious feeling is commonplace.

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