Shares slide to a four-year low as European governments continue the scramble to secure deposits.

Stock markets around the world tumbled this morning, with the FTSE index of a hundred leading shares already falling by more than three hundred points at one point to hit a four-year low.

It puts more pressure on the Chancellor Alistair Darling to come up with a contingency plan. He will make a statement in parliament this afternoon.

In a frantic bid to calm the markets, more countries across the continent have been rushing to guarantee savers deposits. Ireland was the first country to announce a 100 per cent safeguard for all savings accounts last week.

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Are today's shocks a move towards a new economic world order? Apparently China could by the entire US banking system! What effect might the move of manufacturing to the east have on the western economies?

Is this the end of the world as we know it?

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I'm no red or anything, but it wouldn't be a bad thing if we moved away from the constant pursuit of wealth that is the core of capitalism.

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we had a talk in work yesterday about how it actually should be good for us

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I read this too. The power of the market? What a joke

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For you personally or for the company you work for?

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the company, but as in we're getting more business and getting stronger

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That's because the US is in debt up to its eyeballs to China !

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Just like HBOS ?

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We wnt out on the piss the other night on my mates company credit card.
He is in liquidations and business is booming :-D

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Yeah I can imagine debt collectors and pawn brokers are doing well at the moment.

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