Here are brief excerpts from financial experts around the world weighing in on today's stomach-turning economic action. Click the expert's name to read the full opinion.
Guy #1's job is to eat as many pies as he can before he dies. Guy #2 is hired to make sure that everybody gets his or her fair share and plays by the apple-pie rules. If Guy #1 and his pals get all the pies, he's just doing his job. It's Guy #2 who isn't.
The first move, guaranteeing bank deposits, will calm frantic runs on banks. The second, guaranteeing interbank lending, will enable banks to risklessly lend to each other again (this has all but stopped).
Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the UK:
The banking system is fundamental to everything we do. Every family and every business in Britain depends upon it. That is why, when threatened by the global financial turmoil that started in America and has now spread across the world, we in Britain took action to secure our banks and financial system.
Paul Volcker, Fed Chairman 1979-1987:
Today, the financial crisis has reached a critical point. The sharp decline in the stock market and its volatility dramatically make the point. More important if less visible, the flow of credit through the banking system and the financial markets is seriously impaired -- even in part frozen.