What does it all mean?

Last night after my AIG posts I ducked out to a Reason Happy Hour.  Naturally, everyone wanted to know what this would mean for the markets.  With my crack talent for prognostication, I said, "Well, they will go up.  Or they will go down.  Though it's possible they might stay the same."

Is the Fed's move reassuring, because AIG is not going to wind its $100 zillion worth of trades?  Or frightening, because what the hell kind of shape is the financial system in if the Fed is taking over insurance companies?

Damned if I know.  But the markets seem a little unsettled . . . down 140 points as of this writing.  Not catastrophic.  But certainly not good.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2008/09/what-does-it-all-mean/4128/