The fear and trepidation surrounding the financial markets came to realization in the month of September. The broad market fell 8.9 percent in the month, with the average U.S. equity mutual fund down 10.5 percent. This brings the market down 25.6 percent from its Oct. 9, 2007 high through Sept. 30, 2008. Credit markets seized up. Bank failures continued. Auto sales plummeted. Unemployment rose.

The Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson, and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, told President Bush and Congress of the dark peril that faced the U.S. if a massive aid package was not adopted. The epiphany for Paulson came as he watched his trading screens flatline across global credit markets. The London Interbank Offered Rate soared as banks hoarded cash and declined to loan even to one another. Commercial paper activity, the lifeblood of industry, dried up and rates soared. America stood on the brink.

Paulson and Bernanke brought a massive recovery package to Congress that included granting extraordinary powers to the Secretary of the Treasury.

Alan Greenspan, in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC, volunteered himself to serve on a committee as yet unnamed, presumably as chair, to be given extraordinary powers over the economy. It is not known if anyone accepted his offer. […]