Illustration by Oliver Burston  FINANCE houses set out to be
monuments of stone and steel. In the widening gyre the greatest
of them have splintered into matchwood. Ten short days saw the
nationalisation, failure or rescue of what was once the world's
biggest insurer, with assets of $1 trillion, two of the world's
biggest investment banks, with combined assets of another $1.5
trillion, and two giants of America's mortgage markets, with
assets of $1.8 trillion. The government of the world's leading
capitalist nation has been sucked deep into the maelstrom of its
most capitalist industry. And it looks overwhelmed.  The
bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch's rapid sale to
Bank of America were shocking enough. But the government rescue
of American International Group (AIG), through an $85 billion
loan at punitive interest rates thrown together on the evening
of September 16th, marked a new low in an already catastrophic
year. AIG is mostly a safe, well-run insurer. But its financial-
products division,