We don’t have to tell you about the stock market plunge. It’s all over the news with photos of brokers holding their heads in despair. What more is there to say? When it rains, it pours. Calling this Friday afternoon “Black Friday,” especially on Wall Street, relief isn’t yet in sight but it will come…It always comes, eventually.

According to President Bush, “We’re in this together and we’ll come through this together. Anxiety can feed anxiety, and that can make it hard to see all that’s being done to solve the problem.”

And what is being done, exactly?

The United States is exploring ways the government might inject billions into banks in exchange for ownership stakes. Britain offered to pour cash into its troubled banks in exchange for stakes in them - a partial nationalization. Also, a group of nations called the G20 will meet on Saturday evening. Dominating the discussion will be how the world’s finance officials and central bank presidents can better contain the spreading financial crisis

“Addressing these challenges requires the dramatic steps we are taking here in the United States and it requires strong international partnerships,” Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson said this week. “We must also take care to ensure that our actions are closely coordinated and communicated so that the action of one country does not come at the expense of others or the stability of the system as a whole.”

According to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the IMF (world’s financial firefighter), “these actions should help to restore trust and confidence in financial markets.”

Is she right?

We will see…But I think Americans are weary. We’ve lost faith in our leaders. Still, after a storm, the sun always comes back out. During both good and bad times, the one thing that you can always count on is change.

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