The question that everyone is dancing around is whether a combination of business growth, profits, and Central Bank assistance can get the Banks through this crisis, without it spreading to the broader economy.  World losses now suggested at $140Bn +.  The question might be, just how large is the + …  At some point it could become relevant to individual country economies, through size, and through Banks having to constrain their customers credit, because of their own problems.

SUBPRIME LOSSES SET TO SOAR Financial Post

Goldman Sachs warned of deepening subprime woes for the world’s
largest banks yesterday, forecasting that massive writedowns at some
banks will be almost double previous estimates.

Banks on Wall
Street and around the world, including in Canada, have announced losses
of more than US$70-billion tied to the U.S. subprime mortgage market.