UPDATE: House Rejects Bailout Package: Dow down 778!

In the NYTimes: In a moment of historic import in the Capitol and on Wall Street, the House of Representatives voted on Monday to reject a $700 billion rescue of the financial industry. The vote came in stunning defiance of President Bush and Congressional leaders of both parties, who said the bailout was needed to prevent a widespread financial collapse.

778 points is the biggest single-point loss ever! What does that mean? That approximately 1.3 trillion dollars in market value have evaporated in one day!

In the meantime France's president Nicolas Sarkozy declared that the theory that the market "always knows best" is finished. According to Sarkozy, that should not be the face of capitalism: "The market economy is a regulated market ... in the service of all. It is not the law of the jungle; it is not exorbitant profits for a few and sacrifices for all the others. The market economy is competition that lowers prices ... that benefits all consumers."