American bank Lehman Brothers caused fear all over the world this week. The bank said it was bankrupt. This means it has no more money left and it owes other people a lot of money. Because this was such a big bank, with offices all over the world, many people were affected.

Things became worse when AIG, the insurance giant, also said it had money problems. People began taking their money out of the stock market. This means that all kinds of businesses were affected. Businesses need money to work. If people take their money out of banks and insurance companies like AIG, these businesses would not be able to work. Thousands of people all over Asia were lining up outside AIG's offices to take their money home.