Consider Friday's eye-popping figures. Bank of America recorded a $15.3bn (￡10.4bn, €11.5bn) loss at Merrill Lynch, which it owns. Citigroup announced a total 2008 loss of $18.7bn, nearly half of which came from the fourth quarter. Even in the context of this crisis, these losses are epic.

At the same time, the US Treasury said it would inject $20bn into Bank of America and would backstop losses on $118bn of its assets. The government also sweetened its promise to support nearly triple that amount of assets at Citigroup by pledging loans of roughly $250bn from the Federal Reserve. These efforts are the financial equivalent of putting feeding tubes into dying patients.

A perusal of Citigroup's most recent disclosures reveals that it could not survive without government life support. The losses are just the beginning. Revenues overall are down by one-third compared with 2007. Principal transactions, which include head- spinning “variable interest entity” and other off-balance-sheet deals, declined 84 per cent last year. Bank of America's 2008 numbers were not as bad but, even excluding the Merrill losses, earnings were down by nearly $2bn.