BNET Bloggers on Meltdown Monday

Talk about a crash course in finance. On Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average went into a veritable China Syndrome, plummeting more than 500 points, suffering its worst daily meltdown since the Sept 11, 2001 terror attacks. At the close of trading today, the index was back up 141 points, but still in shock mode from the Fed's refusal to bail out any more troubled banks.

But is it all bad news? Yeah, mostly. But BNET's intrepid bloggers are here help you sort the good from the bad and separate the challenges from the opportunities.

Goldman Goes it Alone -- BNET Finance's Robert Reed on Goldman-Sachs' signal that it plans to stay independent, come hell or high water.

AussieMac? Are You Kidding? -- No. In fact, in this Aussie Rules podcast, Phil Dobbie interviews two Aussie experts who propose a Down Under equivalent of the troubled American institution to "provide a minimum level of liquidity during times of financial crisis and ensure continued competition in the home loan market." Half your luck with that, mates.

Financial Forecasting: Why Bother? -- "Finance is an area that's dominated by rare events. The tools we have in quantitative finance do not work--" says author and former options trader, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, in BNET UK. (Added Bonus: Sales Machine's Geoffrey James takes a similar swipe at the usefulness of sales forecasting.)
Lehman Played Chicken with the Market -- It's not just the hot shots at the top of Lehman Brothers who lost that game: 5,000 UK-based employees will likely lose today as well. BNET UK's Joanna Higgins cites poor risk management and financial excess that led to the unraveling of Lehman.

BofA's Lewis Must Convince Shareholders about Merrill -- BofA CEO Kenneth Lewis is only beginning his quest to acquire Merrill Lynch and build a global financial empire. Next: Getting his skeptical shareholders to agree that the $50 billion all-stock transaction for Merrill is in their interests, too.

Has the Old Wall Street Finally Succumbed? -- The Lehman collapse closes the book on the past and the BofA deal suggests a very different future for the industry. Is Wall Street, as we knew it, dead?

Treasury Makes the Right Call -- The Corner Office's Peter Galuszka on why more federal bailouts would have been disastrous.

Making Money the Old-Fashioned Way -- Why are Hudson City Bancorp and ING Direct thriving during an industry crisis? They earn is, says Harvard's Bill Taylor.