We Were Happy to Help You, Europe!

Don't worry, I'm sure Barney Frank can steer a few billion your way to bail out some of his favorite Euro investors as Europe bursts into flames*.

LONDON (AP) -- Asian and European stock markets plunged Monday as government bank bailouts in the U.S. and Europe failed to alleviate fears that the global financial crisis would depress world economic growth.

Investors took scant comfort from Washington's passage of a US$700 billion plan to buy bad assets from banks and other institutions to shore up the financial industry on Friday because of the uncertainty still hanging over the details of the deal and the degree to which it will help.

Britain's benchmark stock index, the FTSE 100, lost 220.11 to 4,760.14 -- a 4.42 percent fall. The declines were led by the banking industry, with the mining and oil industries also suffering drops. HBOS PLC's share price dropped 15.7 percent, while the Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC fell 13.6 percent.

Now that we've passed the bailout bill, we can all go back to our normal lives. The crisis has been averted!

* - When it comes to flaming, there's not many who do it better than Barney Frank!