1) People will always pay their mortgage payment, so it is safe to loan to them. 2) CMO's and CDO's tied to mortgages are AAA rated ( Some are now junk bonds.) 3)Fannie and Freddie are AAA rated and safe. (Still true about the bonds, because of the bailout.) 4) Ratings on most insurers for municipalities are AAA rated. (You now need to look at the underlying rating on a muni to gauge it's rating if the insurance goes away.) 5)Bear Sterns is a fundamentally strong company. 6) Merrill Lynch is a strong, savvy company who would never need to sell itself in the manner that it did to a BANK. 7) Lehman, a 150-year-old company, with a strong history of relationships, especially with generational wealthly clients, will not go under. 8) AIG-Where do I even began? 9)Money markets are safe. ( The U.S's oldest Money Market account broke the $1 NAV and froze redemptions.)