Credit crisis up close

NPR's Adam Davidson, who has done a good job trying to explain the ins and outs of a world many folks didn't even know existed up until a few weeks ago, visits a NY broker dealer firm whose business centers on helping arrange bank to loan money - lots of money - to one another. "At this desk and a handful of others around Wall Street, trillions of dollars used to flow from one bank to another every day," Davidson reports. Except that it's not happening. Everybody is afraid. He's then shown a white board that summarizes what's going on.

Fourty five banks have called you and said we need money.

Right - and how many do you see on the right?

Zero.

That, right there on a white board in an office four stories above Greenwich Avenue, is the financial crisis. Forty five banks can't borrow money. That means 45 banks can't lend as much money to you or your boss or your corner store. That is how this crisis moves from Wall Street to your street.