Today, we have been given as close to a guarantee by the government (backing big banks) as any of us will ever see in our lifetimes. Pass up this give away and you will need new boots to kick yourself in the butt for many years to come.

Last weekend, Global Finance published its list of the World’s 50 Safest Banks – a list that the publication has run for 17 years.

U.S., European stocks slide after dismal jobs report… Dollar falls to 7-week low vs yen, but rises vs euro… US government debt falls in face of historic low yields… Crude prices fall to lowest level in almost four years

Paulson reworks financial bailout: New targets for investment… even you can apply! Markets plummet… Bill Bonner on when stocks will be cheap enough to buy. OECD predicts global recession… Germany admits contraction has already begun. Wall Street CEOs forecast “rapid,” “deep” U.S. recession. Joel Bowman on a peculiar hissing sound emitting from the Middle East.

It looks like we’re going to be graced by a “joint response” to the financial crisis by the G7 leaders.

Paul Tustain says it was government action — slashing interest rates — that caused the crisis. Now they tell us slashing rates further and nationalizing banks is the way to ‘fix’ the economy.

This ‘fix’ will and lead to a protracted period of underperforming stocks and bonds… and create the perfect conditions for a bull market in gold.

Despite a $700 billion bailout plan and huge injections of liquidity, money markets are frozen. Today, the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR), which measures the cost of lending between banks, hit new record highs for all currencies.

Money Morning’s Keith Fitz-Gerald says this shows the worst is still to come in this credit crisis.

Keith has three recommendations for investors: 1) Hold T-bills; 2) Look for inverse investments; and 3) Include hard assets and inflationary hedges in your portfolio.

It looks as though Hank Paulson’s controversial $700 billion bailout bill will make it through Congress. This from Reuters:

Congress is making “tremendous progress” on a U.S. bank bailout bill, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, the chairman of the House of Representative’s subcommittee on capital markets, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, told CNBC. An agreement on a bailout bill is “almost an accomplished fact,” [...] Kanjorski said.

The news sent US stocks skyrocketing this morning. The Dow (DJI) climbed over 200 points in barely an hour of trading. Justice Litle says there are 5 things every investor needs to know about the Paulson plan.

Oxford Club investment director Alexander Green says government intervention to shore up money markets should ensure your cash is safe… for now. But this doesn’t mean the financial crisis is over. Confidence has been severely damaged, and the healing process is only just beginning…

Andrew Snyder says investors need to look beyond the chaos on Wall Street if they want to profit in this crisis. Strong and established firms have been dragged down by the toxic banking sector and are now selling at bargain prices. The share buybacks of Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Altria (NYSE:MO) and Nike (NYSE:NKE) this week show they are undervalued. They also generate income through solid dividend payments.

Hank Paulson wants to spend $700 billion to buy up banks bad debt in the hope it can ‘fix’ the crisis on Wall Street.

The audacity is breathtaking. It requires just $100 billion less of the cost of the war in Iraq to date. Moreover, it is a stunning power grab by the Treasury secretary who, if the bill is passed, will be granted “the most incredible powers ever bestowed on one person over the economic and financial life of the nation.” (The New York Times.)

But there are ways to profit from the madness. Martin Hutchinson has picked three winners.