As of Sunday night, October 12, all the European and Asian stock markets continue to plunge in a state of panic selling. That will surely follow in the U.S. when our markets open tomorrow morning.

To give some indication of the depth of the crisis, here is a list of year-to-date performances of the major stock index in each country listed. (As an example, in the U.S. it's the New York Stock Exchange index.) The numbers are self-explanatory.

In that the financial crisis began with the failure of U.S. banks and financial institutions, I think it can be seen how much anger and blame will be directed towards America in the coming months and possibly years. There will be many dimensions to this crisis other than the amount of money lost worldwide. The amount of wealth already lost is unimaginable. Not to be alarmist, but I can't see how anyone could conclude that we're not on the precipice of another great depression.

United States, down 38%
Canada, down 41%
Mexico, down 45%
Brazil, down 55%
Argentina, down 42%
Chile, down 41%
Peru, down 52%
Britain, down 47%
Germany, down 49%
France, down 47%
Spain, down 44%
Switzerland, down 35%
Italy, down 51%
Portugal, down 51%
Iceland, down 73%
Ireland, down 61%
Netherlands, down 53%
Belgium, down 52%
Denmark, down 44%
Finland, down 54%
Norway, down 55%
Sweden, down 48%
Greece, down 58%
Austria, down 60%
Poland, down 48%
Russia, down 65%
Hungary, down 54%
Ukraine, down 74%
Lithuania, down 55%
Turkey, down 57%
South Africa, down 48%
Israel, down 30%
Japan, down 39%
Hong Kong, down 47%
China, down 57%
Taiwan, down 40%
South Korea, down 53%
Australia, down 53%
Singapore, down 45%
India, down 58%
Indonesia, down 50%
Malaysia, down 39%
New Zealand, down 46%
Philippines, down 50%
Pakistan, down 49%
Vietnam, down 61%