You'd have to be living under a rock to not know about the precipitous fall that global stock markets have taken these past few days. Anybody trying to call a bottom to this slide must either be a prophet, or insane. Gone with them are the legends of modern finance which has driven much of the world these past decades. Within days, names such as Lehman Brothers, Bear Sterns and Merrill Lynch were relegated to the annals of history through a combination of bankruptcies and forced takeovers.

I was in New York last weekend to catch a play and let my feet wander, as they love to do. I couldn't help but notice how quickly the stories of these companies had vanished off the face of the city. Lehman Brothers' headquarters now bore the name of its rescuer, Barclays Capital, and the skin of video screens that cover the building's base flashed Barclays' blue instead. I had to walk just a block further to see the contrast with legends past.