The Big Fall (part 1: the cause)

Dow dives 777 points as House rejects bailout plan (from yahoo.com)

NEW YORK - The failure of the bailout package in Congress literally dropped jaws on Wall Street and triggered a historic selloff — including a terrifying decline of nearly 500 points in mere minutes as the vote took place, the closest thing to panic the stock market has seen in years.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 777 points Monday, its biggest single-day fall ever, easily beating the 684 points it lost on the first day of trading after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

U.S. stocks hammered after House rejects rescue
Dow posts biggest point loss ever, topping plunge after Sept. 11, 2001
By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Stocks plunged Monday, with the Dow industrials plunging 777 points or their worst point drop on record, as the House of Representatives voted down the government's $700 billion financial bailout package.

Congress calls Wall Street's bluff, and we lose
Commentary: How rejecting a $700 billion plan cost us $1 trillion
By David Callaway, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Congress called Wall Street's bluff Monday, and investors, savers, retirees and employees around the world lost their shirts.

While groups of politicians bickered like schoolchildren over the failure of the House of Representatives to pass Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's $700 billion bailout plan, the S&P 500 Index plunged to its worst day since the week of the 1987 stock-market crash, wiping out more than $700 billion in the index's market value.

In other words, we all just spent that $700 billion today -- and still didn't get a rescue plan.

You're doing a heckuva job, Congress.