Today's vote results must come across as a major shock to Hank and Ben (and perhaps Bush) as no one pushed this bail-out more than them. Talk about a slap in the face! If they could not persuade Congress, many members of which are richly funded by Wall Street, to pass this bill then the signal to foreign investors will not be a positive one. After all, why should foreigners continue to foot the bill that the U.S. government now refuses to pay. By now, Ben and Hank must feel that the market was rigged against them, much like PM investors have felt for years. It is a shame I tell you!

Have faith though, Wall Street will find other channels to obtain funds but they would have much preferred the blank cheque method. No doubt the paper shredders will be working into the wee hours of the night tonight.

With the Republicans primarily responsible for killing this bill, who knows, McCain might be able to spin this into a positive for his campaign as we all know the popular vote was against this bail-out.

Unless some other unplanned events occur, PM demand will soon go exponential as equity markets tank and bank after bank shuts-down. There are even rumours now that Ben may be forced to cut interest rates over the coming days - to no avail of course.

Some day - VHF