...well, it's about 8pm central time and word is that Merrill Lynch no longer exists as an independent company--having been bought today by Bank of America.
Lehman Brothers is also apparently out of options and will be forced to declare bankruptcy unless a last minute suitor appears.
Readers, these are fundamental changes and represent the most stark examples yet of the unraveling of the American sprawl-funded finance system. A system that fed itself on artificially cheap money and gave that fake money to all kinds of strip malls, subdivisions, and other land development schemes that stressed our infrastructure while making almost every investment unsafe.
It is not an exaggeration to say that today marks a fundamental turning point in U.S. finance history.
Click here for a website that is aggregating many of the articles covering this amazing series of events...
UPDATE: Mish's take. Probably the best site for following these startling happenings...
