How deep do mortgage-backed securities go?

Good morning, party people! It’s probably not quite time to tune up the violins, à la the Titanic, but if we haven’t actually hit an economic iceberg, we’re in awfully cold water.

AIG has (seriously, thankfully, even for those of us without any actual “investments” or “money in the bank”) been floated a lifesaver by New York State and the Feds.  And Bank of America ate Merrill Lynch.  I hope it was tasty.

If you’re interested in what happened to Lehman, this is a good Google answer (link courtesy of New York Mag).

Russia has shuttered their market early two days in a row.  On Tuesday, after the market dropped 11 points, Putin was confident the Russian market would recover.  On Wednesday, the market dropped 6.4 percent in the first two hours and was closed before any more “recovering” could happen.

I said, hey, it’s cold in here… A near-miss for a real-life SNL moment.  I’m actually not sure why Clinton wouldn’t appear in public with Palin… oh, wait… are Americans shallow? Eh, whatever. I’m over her. Please, won’t someone join me? I guess not.

Things do not look good in Galveston. Too bad we’re all busy snarking the next VP and shoving cash under our mattresses. Don’t worry, though. FEMA and Chertoff are there. Whew.

Seriously, it’s okay: In the future, we’ll all be eating superfoods, anyway! (Here’s hoping for a nutritiously-complete Bloody Mary mix.)

And, finally, the Mets are out… of first place. You’re shocked, I’m sure. LA and Chi-town are still riding high, as is Tampa Bay and, now, Philly. Tick tock, tick tock…

After all that build-up, Hurricane Gustav has come and gone, leaving huge swathes of power outages and a big ol’ mess for returning evacuees to clean up, but no broken levees or national disaster areas.  While people begin making their way back to that part of the waterfront, Gustav’s sister Hanna is heading ominously toward Florida.  No rest for the wicked, as they say.  Hanna is expected to hit landfall on Friday.  Ike will be following sometime thereafter.  On top of the actual danger and damage being done, The Channel Wire, a tech news company, has reported that phishers are massively exploiting these events.  How depressing.  Please, be cautious when giving out personal information online.  (Servicey!)

John McCain is releasing an ad stating that Palin is much more experienced than Obama.  As questionable as that claim is, I look forward to the irrefutable rebuttal in which Obama says he’s just much, much smarter.  Kidding, of course.  About the rebuttal.  Obama is way too classy to say something like that.

General Petraeus is saying that troops could depart Baghdad as soon as next summer!  Attacks are down to a mere five a day (which is still, I know, really sad and terrifying.  My heart goes out to all Iraqis), and American troops have withdrawn out of 14 of 18 provinces!  There is a long road ahead, but there appears to be, if not a light at the end of the tunnel, at least some road signs up ahead.

Still-President Bush has announced that the US will donate $1B in aid to Georgia, following their altercation with Russia over South Ossetia.  Still-Vice President Cheney is due to arrive in the former Soviet republic tomorrow for “discussions” with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili.

On a lighter note, the return of “90210″ had a solid showing in the ratings last night, bringing in 4.9 million viewers and dragging the CW network into first place for adults 18-49 years old.  Congratulations, Brenda, Kelly and the whole gang at Beverly High!

And don’t forget that Sarah Palin will be making her speech at the Rupublican National Convention tonight!  More coverage on that to follow…