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九月十六日（火）金融危機。米国の住宅金融不良から始まり投資証券会社の厳しい経営状況はすでに認識されてゐたもので「近い将来いつかは」と予期されたものゆゑBlack Mondayの如き突然の大混乱には至らず、と思ひたいところ。ただ具体的な破綻がリーマンブラザースであつた、といふこと。なにせアタシも最近５年の積立完了した投資型生命保険や年金代はりの長期積立もいづれもAIAである（笑）。FT紙は社説“Kill or cure for the Wall Street malaise”で
The world has not ended. The international economy has not yet collapsed. But one thing is now quite clear: the banking system as we know it has failed.
御意。米国経済で投資金融の比重は大手投資会社のバランスシート上の扱ひ高はかつて（いつだか忘れたが）米国のGDPの３〜４％であつたものが今は20％台の由。異常以外の何ものでもなし。実業不振のなか金融、而も投資といふ「虚業」に依存した、その虚業が幅をきかす経済社会がいかに脆いか。この金融危機大きく伝へる今日の新聞から２つ。まづはIHT紙のPaul Krugman氏による“Financial Russian Roulette”より
The new system was supposed to do a better job of spreading and reducing risk. But in the aftermath of the housing bust and the resulting mortgage crisis, it seems apparent that risk wasn’t so much reduced as hidden: all too many investors had no idea how exposed they were. （略）
The real answer to the current problem would, of course, have been to take preventive action before we reached this point. Even leaving aside the obvious need to regulate the shadow banking system ― if institutions need to be rescued like banks, they should be regulated like banks ― why were we so unprepared for this latest shock? When Bear went under, many people talked about the need for a mechanism for “orderly liquidation” of failing investment banks. Well, that was six months ago. Where’s the mechanism?（略）
And so here we are, with Mr. Paulson apparently feeling that playing Russian roulette with the U.S. financial system was his best option. Yikes.
もう一つはFT紙のGillian Tett女史による“Fault lines expose financial system built on flimsy foundations”より
However, most financiers have been so busy creating their businesses that these safety checks have generally been perfunctory. And the people who were paid to monitor the foundations - namely regulators - found that task hard, amid the fog created by the frenzy of construction and innovation.（略）
More important still, mergers and failures are removing some of the excess capacity and leverage that have plagued the financial system. That is a crucial precondition for recovery. Indeed, there is now a good chance that when future historians look back, they may yet depict Lehman's implosion as the nadir of the great 2007-2008 credit shock.
However, before a true recovery can start, there is one more development required: investors must start believing that genuine clearing prices have emerged for the toxic assets sitting at Lehman Brothers (and elsewhere).
And while this week's events might hasten that cleansing process, that crucial moment has not arrived yet, on a wide scale. Too much uncertainty and opacity still hangs in the air, in relation to CDS workouts and much else.
Stand by to see more aftershocks. It could still take many more months before the rubble from a decade of financial over-reach is cleared away.
冷静になるべき。かういふ時に故・月本裕さんならどんなことを書かれるか、とふと思ふ。ちなみにNHKのNW９の「報道」によれば、この金融危機を受け日銀と政府は会合を持ち「状況を注意深く見守つていく」ことを確認の由。そんなこと誰でもわかる。実際にはマスコミに聞こえないところで具体的な策でも検討してゐる、と信じたいが……。NW９のキャスターは「私たちの生活にも影響のあることですから何らかの対策が必要と思はれますねつ！」と相変はらずどうでもいいベタなコメント。更にちなみに翌朝の朝日新聞天声人語も（本日は休刊日）
「フー　イズ　ネクスト（次はどこだ）？」と、ニューヨークの金融街などは戦々恐々らしい。（略）株や投資に熱心な向きはなほのこと、対岸の火事を決め込める状況では、もうないやうである。
とどうにも悠長。世界で米国に次ぐ経済体でこれぢや鳥渡。
▼ピンクフロイドのキーボード担当のRichard Wright氏が逝去（1943〜2008）。

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