Here in Australia I've been wondering why the prices of homes
have rising for the past 10 years, now i know why.
These financial ballons were too good to be true!...time for some reality.

Edwin, Melbourne, Australia

We need Conservative Goverments World Wide meanwhile we need the removal and banning of CD'S and Derivatives by Banks this is potentially more catastrophic than toxic assets that have some value vs CDS which are equivalent to junk bonds ...I am afraid the market will move down another 20%

Alex, Hope Island , Australia

I think another 20% fall of stock markets is on the conservative side based on what even IMF predict's most probably a market melt down

Lec Neli, London, UK

Stop resisting.
Stop panicking.
Start planning adaption strategies.
Change your mindsets.
Leave the markets alone.
Let them do what they have to and find their own equilibrium.
Keep the governments out.
Stop them spending taxpayer money on bailing out failures.
It's natural.
Let it be.

Laura Roberts, London, UK

correct the IMf isassistign to the panic and wishes to make it more alaming ? It is just like 2001 SEpt but then it was terror of another sort and afterards we still know littlewhi knew what when and who did what for whom?
the same can be said re the various statements,the timimg is suspicious

David Thompson, London,

The IMF has just given a BIG market buy signal, fill your boots.

John Jip, Malaga, Spain

Amazing! Brown thinks this is his Falklands moment! He created this mess by changing the regulation of banks to the FSA. Previously, UK banks were frequently told by the Bank of England to restrict property lending. Under the FSA banks were allowed to lend to borrowers in the USA who had no income!

TonyG, Newark, UK

The IMF have been warning Brown for the last several years of financial problems because of the growing debt (both govt. generated and personal credit growth). These warnings were totally ignored be by Calamity Brown. He is too much in awe of his own financial expertise and self defication.

M. Cawdery, Craigavon, Co UK, EU

Got to love the IMF, more scare mongering, much the same as running into a packed movie theater and yelling fire.

This seems like a self fulfilling prophecy, and if everyone is panicked enough then maybe we'll get to another 50% drop.

Hard Logic, Sydney, Australia

For the past decade the monetary 'value' of everything has been based on a debt bubble. Now that the bubble has burst the values are returning to normality, hence shares prices as well as house prices are returning the levels of a decade ago.

Paul, Coventry,

SOLUTION: NATIONALIZE: Banks, Utilities companies, Rail companies (bring back British Rail) Free Transport, and increase the petrol prices. Remember privatization was a wrong move. Call it what ever you like whether Communism, Socialism or liberalism. But needs solid leadership.

Harish, Croydon, UK

Next low for the DOW is 7380. If that low does not stop the blood flowing, then next low will be 6350. The USA has two candidates running for president that are totally obtuse in the financial and economic spectrum. So. look for more dow drops here.

wayneo, boston, usa

Why doesn't the IMF put a sock in it?

SGA, Tampa, USA

the stock market falls are as much to do with investors now believing the markets are overpriced (especially when you take into account the risk of recession). bank lending again is critical to the real economy but won't per se cause markets to rebound.

stephen, china, china

The IMF are recommending rate cuts. How will interest rate cuts encourage one bank lend to another if banks fear that borrowers will go bankrupt? It doesn't matter whether it is 0% if the capital sum is lost when the borrower collapses. Perhaps setting the rate at -30% might work?

Simon, London, UK

Derek, Cape Town....

I agree. Also, I haven't heard anything about the potential CDS exposure for the collapsed Icelandic banks. Or indeed the CDS exposure if the Icelandic government defaults. The $65 trillion CDS nuclear megabomb may be in the process of detonating.

Simon, Epsom, UK

The fact that even after all this time there is no fully-developed plan is totally as expected.
McBroon, BoE, FSA and Treasury never had any idea how to actually implement a plan of action properly to give the desired results, without unintended consequences.
In other words, they are incompetent.

Padraig, Perth, Australia

Why is gold not at $2,000-$5,000/ounce? The market is much worse that it was in 87' and gold is not even close to an inflation adjusted price - why is that?

Greg, New York, USA

and thanks to all the stars that none of the world leaders are getting on their knees to pray or sending its peoples to temples to do the same! your comment Carl is sooooo 1st centuary it made me weep just about. No wonder we are all in this mess!

Anita, Adelaide, Australia

Hard to talk about confidence when it is computers with pre-set prices issuing sell or buy instructions. And the people talking about confidence are the same ones who got us in this trouble.....

Paul, Toronto, Canada

No Gordon, we are not in this together. You and your predecessor and your flawed and bankrupted ideology will result in your caste and fellow travellers feeling the consequence of decades of studied neglect. For every distressed seller, there is a buyer. Bring on the lemmings. Bring on November 4.

Alberto Jorge, Perth, Australia

The amazing thing to me is not a single world leader has suggested we ask God for his help. How the USA has changed. We have become too proud to be humble and now God is going to humble us and the world. Maybe the one world antichrist will bring his economic solution - - 666.

Carl Broggi, Seabrook, SC, USA

Like how Bush says "We're in it together' when he's in trouble, yet was happy to go it alone when it came to the Kyoto treaty and the support of the UN over the Iraq war.

Pat, LA, US

“Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”: FDR’s First Inaugural Address

Joon Sang Yu, Seoul, Korea

What, me worry? Looking at King Dollar gaining strength by the day; and crude at $78/bbl (gasoline is $2.97/gal in NJ), we are poised for an explosive rebound. The Dow indicated capitulation ~8200, so my biggest fear is overcompensation by Paulson and Bernanke, igniting inflation.

Dan Schwartz, Sayreville, NJ, US of A

Brown's wasted billions on public spending funded by mortgaging Britain will come back to haunt him. Laughable to suggest this is a Falklands moment. More like a short lived bounce.

Rahul, London,

This is going to get...interesting. Yesterday's crystalisation of Lehman bond defaults, at $365bn, could trigger a round of defaults on an incomprehensible scale. There are some 350 counterparties involved. I hope I'm wrong, but the past 3 weeks could just have been the hors d'ouevre. Stand by....

Derek, Cape Town, SA

And they would know why?

Desmond Taylor, Houston, USA,TX

Its all getting more "1984" by the day, isn't it?

What a terrifying world to live in!

Martyn Taylor, Swindon, England (wot's left of it)

Brown created this problem by his continued refusal to encourage saving, constant reliance on debt to finance his public spending splurge and encouragement of the investment bankers in London that created this problem. Now he wants the credit for attempting to avert the inevitable disaster?

Bruce Mcaaw, Grantham,

The markets do have further to fall. Consumer spending is what drives the economy, not the banking system. Banks lending to each other isn't going to get people back into shops.

Doesn't anyone learn from history?

John, London,