So we see the verdict of Wall Street, following the other markets, that they very much are OK with the idea of governments owning shares. After all, shareholders are shareholders, right? Better the government than Carl Icahn.

The rub is that it devalues current shareholders' stakes, but they were headed toward zero; in that case keeping some value was a better choice. There was talk that large banks were resisting, but either their vote was not determinative, or the fear of impending hanging concentrated the minds of those worthies.

So will we now hear the economic fundamentalists repent? If you think so, can I interest you in some interesting new derivatives?

A question that will arise, if the markets recover, is whether it helps or hurts one or the other candidate. I would guess it won't help McCain much, but might help Obama a bit. Since he was the one (sorry) that was active in the White House meeting, and in Congress, while McCain is now seen as ineffective at that time, success validates Obama's judgement.