Dow falls 777 points, TSE over 800 points down

September 29, 2008 11:50 p.m.
The Dow fell 777 points or 7% the largest single day drop since the crash of 1987 after it became clear that the rescue package was going down to defeat in the House of Representatives by a margin of 13 votes. Some 60 plus Democrats voted no and over 140 Republicans rejected the package backed by President Bush and his Secretary of the Treasury.The rejection reverberated around the globe as markets in Europe, Asia and of course in Canada reacted badly to the news. In Canada the TSE dropped by a whopping 840   points thereby putting the lie to the nonsense spoken by Canadian politicians that we will not be affected by events in the US financial markets.
The politicians have taken a break for the Jewish New Year and will resume possible debate and strategizing on how to pass this necessary credit unfreezing and anti-depression package . Lets hope that they succeed the second time trying. Otherwise look out for further drops in the markets and general financial instability including the freezing up of lines of credit and interbank loans. The Republicans and Democrats who voted against this package ought to rethink how history will view them if they stubbornly refuse to support it. Whatever its faults it is much much better than the alternative of doing nothing