Depends on the language, Neal
ANyway, Sky, it's not just the American financial system that's hurting. The current mess is extremely globalised, it was only the subprime collapse that started the ball rolling.
Only two of the Big Five US independent investment banks remain, I wonder how many there will be in a few weeks. Me, I expect Goldman Sachs to start buying commercial banks for stability. Not sure about Morgan Stanley, apparently half of their workforce is going over the Lehman collapse with a microscope, and the other half are trying to de-link their assets from debt markets.
Tiny twinge of schadenfruede when I saw Merrill Lynch selling itself. They wouldn't give me a job :p