Financial fear and loathing even in Texas

Jon Markman reports that even oil-and-gas Texans are worried about national financial issues.

First, he points out loopholes in the bailout bill, such as this:

Emilio says bank lobbyists snookered the government by sneaking in an exception under subsection 3a, "Conditions on purchase authority for warrants and debt instruments." The clause, titled “Exceptions — De Minimis,” states that any debt instruments worth less than $100 million won't trigger the payback provision.

The work-around on this baby is obvious.

Next, Markman claims European backs have been even less regulated, hence the huge market drops there.

Meanwhile, Bill Fleckenstein says Wall Street still hasn’t cried “uncle” yet. For that and other reasons, he predicts a huge surge in gold prices.

Well, the Dow cried “uncle” enough today to fall below 9,000.