We run therisk of making criticaldecisions, notonthebasisof what we know, the findings of investigations, and thedata of experiments, buton the basis of blind faith in professed experts.
The hastily arranged purchase of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan Chase is the result of exactly such a bank runonthe bank, as Bear's counterparties lost faith in it.
However since a bank only keeps a small percentage of its assets in cash or short-term investments if there is a runon a bank or handful of them the overall faith in the banking system could be rattled.
As a candidate, Mr Bush resolutely refused to run against big government, campaigning instead on a programme of restoring faith in the nation's institutions.