The purchase of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America and the bankruptcy and collapse of Lehman Brothers are the latest — albeit most dramatic - installments of the ongoing credit crisis that began last August 2007. The bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the fire-sale purchase of Bear Stearns by JP Morgan Chase in March were also greeted with fear and dread, and if the past is any guide (which, by the by, it may not be), today will not be the final chapter.