A financial crisis happens when some financial institutions or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. Many financial crises are banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these panics. Other situations that are often called financial crises include stock market crashes and the bursting of other financial bubbles, as well as international phenomena like currency crises and sovereign defaults. (Wikipedia)

White House rivals war over deepening financial crisis
AFP
Obama, arguing the United States was “in the midst of the most serious financial crisis in generations,” heaped scorn on McCain for claiming the economy was …

Bloomberg warns of possible ‘next wave’ crisis
The Associated Press
Bloomberg said he was concerned that the credit crisis in the United States may scare off foreign investors that, until now, have been willing to buy debt …

Crisis Exposes Flaws in US Economy, Tarnishes Image (Update1)
Bloomberg
The meltdown has created “a crisis of confidence in the US government,” said Jim Leach, a former Republican US congressman from Iowa who is now a …

Lawmakers Left on the Sidelines as Fed, Treasury Take Swift Action
Washington Post, United States
By Lori Montgomery The frenetic pace of the financial crisis has forced the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve to make rapid-fire decisions in recent …

Fischer holds emergency meeting in wake of Wall Street crisis
Ynetnews, Israel
Inc. Interior Minister Sheetrit, Defense Minister Barak call on cabinet to take any action necessary to minimize impact of recent Wall Street crisis on …

Stocks plunge after crisis in investment firms
Boston Globe, United States
Meanwhile, the financial crisis could mean the loss of hundreds of financial services jobs, not just at Lehman’s offices, but at other investment firms in …

The financial crisis Wall Street’s bad dream
Economist, UK
It is a measure of the scale of the crisis that, by the evening of Wednesday, all eyes were on Morgan Stanley, and no longer on AIG, which only 24 hours …

Bush Cancels Trip Amid Financial Crisis
Wall Street Journal
It wasn’t immediately clear whether Mr. Bush would make any further public comment on the crisis on Thursday. He’s maintained a relatively low profile on …

US CRISIS: WASHINGTON MUTUAL FOR SALE
Agenzia Giornalistica Italia, Italy
Washington Mutual, the American mortgage giant, seriously weakened by the mortgage crisis, is up for sale. This according to sources close to the situation.

Financial crisis deepens amid fear of continued stock dive
Los Angeles Times, CA
The global financial crisis deepened Wednesday as stock prices cratered and credit markets seized up, teetering financial institutions sought salvation in …

Blogosphere:

McCain and Financial Crisis
Mona Charen
This has not been John McCain’s finest hour. Does he rail against Wall Street for political effect? If so, it’s demagoguery. But he has a unpleasant tendency to accuse others of corruption. Now I’m no expert on these financial deals but …

Russia faces biggest financial crisis since default
Russia halted stock trading for a second day yesterday, poured $US44 billion into its three largest banks and relaxed restrictions on lenders to stem the financial crisis.

Another conference, another crisis
Ros Scott
Arriving home in Suffolk for a brief connection with my cottage, I was reflecting on how often our conferences have co-incided with some kind of external crisis – Northern Rock last Autumn, sterling crashing out of the ERM when we were …

Meltdown 2008: What Wall Street’s crisis means for your finances
Amey Stone
Filed under: Major movement, Market matters, Personal finance. It seems like years ago, but it was only Monday when I wrote a post about what Wall Street’s meltdown means to the average American. The post generated a slew of additional …

Explaining the Financial Crisis: Continuously Updated News …
Josh Korr
News sites could help explain the crisis by putting up a continuously updated aggregation of links to the best reporting and commentary. Some sites may already have bloggers linking to these stories, but why not put the links right on …

Comment on Crisis: Necessary Steps
CalculatedRisk
… the viability of WaMu and others institutions in doubt, Fannie and Freddie placed in conservatorship, a major money market fund halting redemptions, it might seem like the credit crisis is spiraling out of control. …

Open thread on the financial crisis
A reader asks me to let my resident experts discuss the situation, and my resident learners to ask questions. So here you go: talk away.

Nobel Prize Winning Economist: Crisis As Bad As Great Depression …
Describing the current situation as a “top down crisis”, Stiglitz also cited the $3 trillion cost of the Iraq war as a key factor in the economic downturn, saying it has increased the budget deficit and consumed resources that would …

Global Markets Are Rattled By Growing Financial Crisis
Financial markets continued to be pounded by worries that the turmoil sweeping Wall Street will continue to spread around the globe. Crisis Ripple Effects: Pros Speak; AIG Gets US Government Lifeline; Rescues Cost $900 Billion So Far.

Financial Crisis: Dems Try to Rewrite History – Again
As I pointed out previously, Nancy Pelosi is clueless. Apparently history, at least for her, started after at least 2005. As Ed Morrissey points out, 2005 would be the year John McCain made this speech: Mr. President, this week Fannie. …