At the core of the financial crisis is a simple problem: Banks don’t fully trust each other. So they hoard cash and only lend to each other if the borrowing bank pays enough to justify the risk.

The best indicator of the simmering interbank distrust is an obscure-sounding interest rate known as Libor, which is flashing red. Libor, or the London interbank offered rate, is the rate that banks worldwide charge each other for short-term loans.

Yesterday, the annualized rate for those overnight loans spiked by more than four percentage points, to 6.9 percent, its highest level ever. Normally, Libor on dollar loans is not much higher than what it costs the U.S. government to borrow short-term money, which yesterday was nearly zero.

That tells experts that banks around the world are basically unwilling to lend to each other at any price. It means that cash is not flowing to places that need it. And, if sustained, would ultimately lead to higher borrowing costs for ordinary U.S. households and businesses.

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As he prepares for October baseball at Wrigley Field, manager Lou Piniella feels good about his team.

He feels good about the starting pitchers. Feels good about the lineup. Feels good about the back end of the bullpen. Feels good about the character of his resilient ballclub.

“I do like our team, yes, and I’ve got a whole lot of confidence in them,” he said.

But, as has been his habit from the beginning of the Piniella era, he cautioned fans not to get overconfident about his 97-win team. If he had a playoff T-shirt licensed by Major League Baseball, it probably would read: Be Happy, Not Giggly.

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The voters will sort out the blame on all this in November. Anger at Washington will feed a hunger for change, and it’s likely to fall harder on the GOP as the party that holds the White House. But for the next president and the next Congress, whatever its makeup, Monday’s performance should be looked at as an example of what it was, a performance designed to undermine the public’s confidence in its elected leadership.

—An article in today’s Washington Post by Dan Balz

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The standing committee of the Diocese of Quincy has recommended that the diocese seek realignment with the Anglican Church of the Southern Cone based in Argentina, while continuing as a member of the Common Cause Partnership, according to Fr. James Marshall, president of the standing committee.

Bishop Keith Ackerman of Quincy is on sabbatical through the end of October. In the absence of the bishop, the standing committee is in charge of non-sacramental ecclesiastical duties. Bishop Ackerman will be back in time to preside at convention, which is scheduled to meet Nov. 7-8 at St. John’s Church, Quincy.

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Those pitiful numbers lead us to the innumerable problems posed by derivatives, the same financial instruments that led to the chaos at Enron, which before it failed operated a huge””and almost completely unregulated””derivatives exchange business. According to the Bank for International Settlements, the global derivatives market is now worth some $676.5 trillion. That’s $676,500,000,000,000. That’s a fivefold increase over the value of derivatives that were traded in 2003. Further, that $676.5 trillion is 51 times America’s current gross domestic product.

In 2002, the world’s smartest investor (and my pick for president this year), Omaha billionaire Warren Buffett, issued his annual letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway. In it, he called derivatives “financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.”

—Robert Bryce in US News and World Report

Most of us begin with the relatively easy, local initiatives like changing the light bulbs to compact fluorescents, or examining our use of disposable items, and then move on to upgrading building insulation and heating and cooling systems. Old buildings can be a challenge, but many have found creative ways to install photovoltaic systems on the roof and even power-producing windmills. General Seminary is doing the geothermal drill. Those who have the opportunity to rebuild or build anew can explore the latest in low-carbon or sustainable building footprints. Doing that kind of work in the congregation can be a remarkable teaching opportunity that will raise the skill of other pastoral gardeners in their own homes and the larger community. Discovering how much waste a congregation produces, and how much can be recycled, is another way of teaching and even changing community norms. There are still too many local communities that make no provision for recycling, or have only inadequate programs.

In the same way that frequent moving of the flock can raise the productivity of the grassland, recycling reusable resources brings another kind of abundant life. I saw a great example in New Hampshire this last weekend. St. Andrew’s, West Manchester is collecting and sharing food with the hungry through its food bank. They are collecting and sharing clothes and other hard goods with those in great need. They are renovating an old house behind the church parking lot to both provide an apartment for a low-income family and provide a more accessible space for their thrift shop. In the process, they’re offering ministry opportunities for seniors and the otherwise unemployed to share their gifts with others. That is good pastoral care at almost every level ”“ it’s simple and yet profound.

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A Wando High School graduate has been killed in Afghanistan, the second local soldier to die in just over a week.

Richie Cliff, 29, had served in the Army since 2002, and had previously completed a year-long tour of duty in Iraq.

The staff at Wando, where Cliff’s mother taught biology for more than 30 years, heard the news Tuesday morning.

“He was a student leader, an outstanding, fine young man,” recalled Principal Lucy Beckham. “He was very patriotic and we are very proud of him and what he was willing to do.”

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George Dallas is 77 years old and 50 payments behind on his mortgage.

“Nobody even believes that,” the Red Top resident said. “They say, ‘Man, they should’ve taken that house years ago.’ ”

A nagging nerve problem forced Dallas to stop working before he was ready, at 71. He soon found that relying on Social Security and a pipefitter’s pension left little behind after making his $800-a-month mortgage payments.

He tried cash-advance stores but couldn’t manage the interest. He filed for bankruptcy but couldn’t keep up with the required payments.

Now seeking financial assistance at counseling centers and churches alike, he hears the same thing: There just isn’t any money.

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The fact, timing and manner of the action taken by the American House of Bishops toward Bishop Bob Duncan of Pittsburgh has filled us with dismay. He is a Bishop in good standing in the Anglican Communion, and is guilty only of guarding his people from false teaching and corrupt behaviour as he promised to do. Once more the upholders of the orthodox faith are made to suffer at the hands of those who have introduced new teachings.

However, the action has also had the effect of clarifying matters even further. It is now impossible to believe that the exhortations of the Lambeth Conference and the Windsor Continuation Group will be heeded. No Pastoral Forum has been established. We remain convinced that the faithful Anglicans of North America need to have their own Province recognised by the Communion as a whole. We are determined to stand with Bishop Duncan and those who, like him, have protested in the name of God against the unscriptural innovations which have caused such divisions amongst us.

In the absence of other substantive provision from the historic structures of the Communion, the Primates’ Council gives its full support to Archbishop Greg Venables in receiving Bishop Duncan as a Bishop in good standing in the Province of the Southern Cone.

…there is good reason for the public’s skepticism. The experts and policy makers who so desperately want to take action have failed to tell a compelling story about why they’re so afraid.

It’s not enough to say that markets could freeze up, loans could become impossible to get and the economy could slide into its worst downturn since the Great Depression. For now, the crisis has had little effect on most Americans, beyond their 401(k) statements. So to them, the specter of a depression can sound alarmist, and the $700 billion bill that Congress voted down this week can seem like a bailout for rich scoundrels.

Bernanke and his fellow worriers need to connect the dots. They need to use their bully pulpits to teach a little lesson on the economics of a credit crisis how A can lead to B, B to C and C to Depression.

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Update: A related article from AP is here.

The French have always found American elections amusing, in a horror movie sort of way. They grumpily regard the American president as in some unfortunate sense also their own, but they see the campaign through their own cultural lens.

They value sophistication above almost anything, and so they regard their own hyperactive president, Nicolas Sarkozy, with his messy romantic life and model-singer wife, as “Sarko the American.”

But this year has been difficult for the French. Sarkozy has generally supported American foreign policy and has praised the United States’ openness and entrepreneurial verve. And the sudden emergence of Senator Barack Obama–black, and seen as elegant and engaged with the larger world– has sent many French into a swoon.

But the combination of two recent surprises– Governor Sarah Palin and America’s terrifying financial meltdown– has brought older, nearly instinctual anti-American responses back to the surface.

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America is stitched together by words, ideas and memory, according to America’s best-known documentary filmmaker.

“We are still stitched together by words and most importantly, by their dangerous progeny””ideas,” Ken Burns told a packed Massey Performing Arts Center Tuesday night at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.

Burns has been America’s chief documentarian for the past three decades. His extensive films on the Civil War, baseball, jazz and, most recently, World War II have built a reputation that once prompted historian Stephen Ambrose to say, “More Americans get their history from Ken Burns than any other source.”

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All these people claim a special happening – contact with the Holy Spirit. For many of them, “getting the spirit” or feeling God’s presence is a real, tangible and bodily experience. Shouting, seeing visions, speaking in tongues, jumping, dancing or falling limp to the floor (“falling out”) are just a few ways people say the Holy Spirit’s manifests its presence in their bodies.

But not every church group or individual Christian experiences the Holy Spirit. Some churches don’t welcome the bodily expression of spiritual experience. But even for those who do, the manifestations of the Spirit often vary from person to person, said William Turner Jr., a professor of ministerial studies at Duke Divinity School.

People seek the Holy Spirit because “consistently, the New Testament teaches that the basic components of the Christian life are: believing on the Lord Jesus; being baptized; and receiving the Spirit,” Turner said.

Sometimes fear of the unknown can keep worshippers from fully sensing God’s presence, he added.

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In a surprise move to resurrect President Bush’s $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan, Senate leaders slated a vote on the measure for Wednesday – but added a tax cut plan already rejected by the House. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky unveiled the plan Tuesday.

The Senate plan would also raise federal deposit insurance limits to $250,000 from $100,000, as called for by the two presidential nominees only hours earlier.

The move to add a tax legislation – including a set of popular business tax breaks – risked a backlash from House Democrats insisting they be paid for with tax increases elsewhere.

But by also adding legislation to prevent more than 20 million middle-class taxpayers from feeling the bite of the alternative minimum tax, the step could build momentum for the Wall Street bailout from House Republicans. The presidential candidates Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Barack Obama, D-Ill., intend to fly to Washington for the votes, as does Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, the Democratic vice presidential candidate.

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Krish Kandiah, executive director of Churches in Mission, said: “These commandments are virtual rather than set in stone, but are offered to the blogging community as a way to link the Ten Commandments with the art of blogging.

“In the ever-changing information age, what we need is wisdom for life, and God communicates wisdom to our culture through the Bible on every issue from social justice to social networking.”

Mark Meynell, senior associate minister for All Souls Church, Langham Place, said: “The internet is merely the latest step in the evolution of human communication ”” and so like any other new medium, it presents us with huge opportunities as well as challenges.

“It is essential that Christians make the most of it because we believe we have good news that is as relevant to those in cyberspace as it is for those in real space.”

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Constitutional experts and minority parties yesterday rallied behind proposals to repeal the 300-year bar to Catholics succeeding to the throne and end male precedence in the royal succession.

Following the Guardian’s report yesterday that plans drawn up by the Labour backbencher Chris Bryant have gone to Downing Street, reformers agreed that the 1701 Act of Settlement barring Papists from the throne, passed after the Glorious Revolution, is outdated.

Lynne Featherstone, the Lib Dems’ spokeswoman on equalities issues, said: “This is an overdue but welcome move. Whilst the hereditary principle itself is obviously still a bit dodgy, at least this modernisation ends the outrageous discrimination against Catholics and women.”

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So why aren’t the leaders of our major Christians denominations saying anything about the economy? They’ve had plenty to say during the past week about other pressing moral issues. Catholic bishops remain focused on abortion. Southern Baptist leaders continue to condemn abortion and defend Sarah Palin, and National Baptist Convention leaders fretting about aging congregations and applauded Michelle Obama. Presbyterian leaders expressed concern about gun violence, Assemblies of God about hurricane victims, Lutherans about poverty, United Church of Christ leaders about peace. None of them said anything about Wall Street.

Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints did express some concern about how the economic crisis might be affecting the welfare of others, but only to remind LDS about the church’s own welfare program “based on the principle of self-reliance.”

Read it all. Well, the blog has not been silent, and I took the first chunk of adult Sunday School last Sunday in the parish in which I serve to address the issue. If you have an example of a response from your parish or diocese, I would like to see it–KSH