Ancient thinkers from Thucydides to Cicero insisted that money was the real
source of military power and national influence. We've been reminded of that
classical wisdom these last three weeks.
In a manner not seen since the Great Depression, Wall Street went into panic
mode from too many bad debts. The symbolic pillars of American monetary
strength for years - AIG, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, Shearson-Lehman and
Washington Mutual - in a matter of hours either went broke, were absorbed or
were reconstituted. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac collapsed like the house of
cards that they were.