At least they didn't lose as much as their customers. The stock market is in distress, bond insurers are looking for a $200 billion bailout, junk-bond markets are at risk of further losses and life-, home- and auto insurers' risk has not yet been fully assessed.

We need real ready-to-go financial leadership and we need it now. Tell the presidential candidates, Congress and economists to stay home. We need regulators with clear priorities.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, former FDIC Chairman Bill Isaacs and anyone they trust would be good choices. They beat inflation and presided over the savings and loan cleanup. Tell Ben Bernanke to go home.

As for you personally, it's every person for themselves and their family. Study the charts: This is a bear market.

The worm turns

The Wall Street worms have made our economy rotten to the core. Combine dazed and confused credit markets with globalization, and our economy is in a bind. A Fed rate cut won't turn things around for more than a week.

Money is available now ($4 trillion in deferred income taxes) if U.S. leaders are willing to act decisively. See related story.

To protect your wealth, you have to confidently and objectively keep in mind what will rise in value in today's crisis. Sell short, reallocate assets, use leverage and whatever other tools and techniques are needed. Protect your own retirement savings and don't count on the government for support.

Stocks in pain

The Fed's rate cuts are only bandages. They'll succeed at weakening the U.S. dollar against foreign currencies, and that encourages foreign governments to buy American institutions at fire-sale prices. That can't be good for America.

From 2000-2002 stocks slid slowly down this slippery slope and the pain was excruciating. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (SPX: SPX 1,349.73, -6.08, -0.4%) has barely broken even so far in this century and we're in a bear market. A shift to cash or investing in mutual funds or exchange-traded funds tied to the inverse of the major stock indices would be wise. Inverse ETFs go up when the index goes down and leveraged inverse-ETFs go up twice as much in the same situation.

The next shoe to drop could come in late February when insurance companies have to 'fess up on their portfolio holdings. It's unlikely to improve their stock prices and safety ratings.

Two ways to diversify and profit from any unsettling financial-services news ahead: Sell iShares Dow Jones U.S. Insurance Index Fund (IAK: IAK 45.50, -0.33, -0.7%) short, or buy the double-beta inverse ETF ProShares UltraShort Financials ETF (SKF: