Financial Disaster and Political Opportunity

Lehman Brothers is bankrupt; Merrill Lynch will be bought by the Bank of America. With stocks plunging, Wall Street is watching to see what will happen next. Bush, Obama, McCain, Biden and Palin are all talking about limiting damage and preventing another financial catastrophe. Also, Hurricane Ike has produced the largest rescue operation in the history of Texas.

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, where in this afternoon's trading the Dow fell over 500 points. Photo: Spencer Platt/Getty Images