Bear Stearns: The Final Days

What the hell is going on with the financial markets? Bear Stearns something? J.P. Morgan wha? Unprecedented federal bailout as harbinger to a devastating recession how? I'm as clueless on business news as the next guy, particularly if the next guy is George W. Bush, so I have no idea what any of this stuff means other than that, if what I remember from history class and and old newsreels is somehow accurate, I will soon be forced to sell apples on the street while wearing a barrel as the music of Woody Guthrie plays in the background. That said, today's Wall Street Journal carries a day-by-day account of the fall of Bear that makes for some truly gripping reading. You get the feeling that all these guys who usually spend their days sitting around as their net worth magically increases are somehow kind of enjoying being in the middle of the action. You know, except for the ones who lost everything.