Where were you yesterday at 2:30 pm? I think I was in my office. What I certainly was not doing was watching the stock market. Thank goodness.

Partly due to a trader error, the stock market went into a free fall yesterday, then climbed right back out of the hole, all in the space of about 30 minutes. The Dow dropped about 1,000 points, while one $40 stock was trading at one penny.

While investors and regulators try to figure out what happened, some assurances can be made about the strength of the current market, though the safeguards could not prevent the loss of billions of dollars yesterday.

Some circuit breakers do exist, a legacy of the reforms made following the 1987 stock market crash, but they only kick in after a huge drop — and only at certain hours. Before 2 p.m., a 10 percent drop in the Dow causes New York Stock Exchange to halt trading for one hour. Between 2 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., the pause shrinks to a half-hour and after 2:30, there is no halt in trading.

If there is a 20 percent drop, trading stops for two hours before 1 p.m. and by one hour between 1 and 2 p.m. After 2 p.m., the market closes.

These are all obviously in place to prevent a full crash. The thing I always find interesting to look at is how a drop like this compares to, say, the stock market crashing. Over two days in 1929, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 23 percent, but the raw number was less than 100 points. Yesterday the market was off about eight percent at the worst, and it was about 1000 points.

Remember that after the market crash, the Dow would lose some 89 percent of its value by 1932.

Obviously, 1929 was a long time ago, so let's take a look at 1987, when Black Monday happened. On that day, the Dow dropped 508 points, or 22.6 percent. That would trigger a halt in trading now. At that point it was the greatest single day loss the Dow had ever taken. Over the week, the Dow lost 760 points, or more than 30 percent.

In comparison to all of these, in one week in 2008, the Dow dropped more than 1,800 points, but only 18 percent. The Dow finished off 347 points yesterday.

It now sits at 10,520.32. You probably don't know what that means, which is fine. Just look at it through the progression. While I just told a story of three pretty bad times in American history, what you cannot ignore is how much larger the numbers got each time. Our economy has grown exponentially, which allows for these "corrections" to occur. That said, billions were still lost yesterday.

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Obviously the other big news yesterday comes to us from across the Atlantic, England, where economic struggle came to a head amidst a huge election. As the front pages were covered with pictures of Greek rioting, a three-party race was in a sprint to the finish.

As polls closed last night and results came in, it became very clear that sitting Prime Minister Gordon Brown has a challenge ahead of him: dealing with a hung parliament.

Liberal Democrats (which have got to be like college student liberal) are projected to win 61 seats, with the Labour party around 255. What this means is that, despite huge momentum, the conservative party will not claim an absolute majority. This could get messy. But it will be fun to watch.

What won't be so fun is figuring out how this new government is going to dig England out of financial straights. They will first have to rebuild the government, closely followed by a plan that will take this country from the brink.

Oh, and that stock market thing? Not helping England. The Asian markets took an overnight plunge and the European markets appear to be doing the same. Scared yet? This is one of those things that the average person just doesn't understand really at all. I provided a mini horror story, I know, but in reality, it would take more than this for real damage to be done. This should just underscore how volatile the whole thing can be.

Here is a comparison of Greece to California, with a guess that the country will leave the euro.

And just as I finished typing that an update flashed across my screen that unemployment is up to 9.9 percent, but the US economy created 290,000 jobs in April. How does that work? Well first, the economy needs to gain something like 135,000 jobs every month just to keep up with new job seekers (estimating that many people join the workforce every month). So yes, that 290,000 is a good number, even if the net is only about 155,000. However, as the economy begins to pick back up and people report having new jobs, more of those who had been unemployed and not looking for new jobs restart their search, adding to the number of those considered "unemployed." Hence the jump. Frankly, if you really want to know the unemployment number in this country, it is closer to the 20 percent range. For minorities it is far higher.

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Since that open was so fiscal and peachy, how about some funny:

"What are we gonna do in this country when we get attacked by someone who is not one of the Home Alone burglars."

Jon Stewart breaks down pretty much every major story in the news, as only he can do - with a fishing pole and a bottle of Coke. Yeah, watch it. His underlying point, that it seems like the world is falling apart, is shared by many.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Family Research Council's European Gaycation
www.thedailyshow.com
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Other news:

- Back in the financial markets, the Senate rejected an amendment yesterday that would have forced the breakup of several of the nation's largest banks. It was an attempt to end "too big to fail." It was voted down 61-33, with three Republican votes, meaning more than 30 Democrats voted against it. Even they think that might be government overreaching. Or they just get significant contributions from Bank of America.

The overall financial overhaul is expected to pass, however, giving Democrats another victory, after a deal was forged on an audit of the Fed. My conservative friends can argue all the want, but when this happens, check out the list of accomplishments of this one Congress:

• Major stimulus package still creating jobs and investing in things like clean energy. Even the GOP's own Eric Cantor admitted projects like high-speed rail will create tons of jobs.
• A Supreme Court justice.
• Something important happened last month, hold on, forgetting, oh: Health care passed after decades of debate (or did it just feel like that?).
• Financial reform.
• There will be another Supreme Court justice.
• The House passed a clean energy and climate bill and the Senate still has time.
• Could ratify the new START treaty.
• Cash for Clunkers.
• Harry Reid may have grown a pair, which would be the biggest accomplishment of all, considering he is about to lose his job.

They've done a lot of stuff people. For all the crap we give Congress, this is one of the most successful sessions ever. Come to me with a better one. History does not look fondly at those who choose inaction over action. Certainly this Congress chose action.

- Finally, in a shocking development (a Cornell study actually), waitresses with big boobs get better tips. Excuse me, I need to make sure this guy doesn't get any federal funding for his studies.