The global economy is in crisis. Check out the latest global developments:

Britain’s Bailout

Britain just announced a $87.5 billion taxpayer bailout for the country’s eight largest banking institutions.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the plan took weeks to develop and, due to the current global fiscal calamity, it was imperative to roll it out today.

He continued to say that the bank recapitalization plan is meant to restore trust in the system and solidify the British economy. He said there may be a more comprehensive economic plan in the works for Britain and other European counties.

"Because these are also global problems, global action is required," Brown said. "This is a long haul and we have invited other European countries to consider proposals we have put to them this morning on medium-term funding and are in active consultation about how we can adopt a European-wide funding plan."

Iceland: From Bad to Worse

Britain's news came a day after Iceland took exceptional measures to prevent a “national bankruptcy”. It seized control of the country’s second-largest bank (which was the second government seizure in two weeks) and, to the shock of onlookers, asked to borrow $5.5 billion from Russia, which has not yet been granted.

This is a powerful political position for Russia to be in—a loan to Iceland demonstrates that Russia is financially strong and is willing to help financially distressed countries.

As a result of the banking crisis, the currency (krona) has plummeted, pushing inflation to double digits and forcing the central bank to raise its benchmark interest rate to more than 15 percent.

All of this rapid financial turmoil comes from a country that has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.