NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks plummeted Wednesday, with the Dow industrials falling 449 points in its second worst session of the year, as the government's emergency rescue of AIG amplified fears about the stability of financial markets.

The selloff comes in the wake of the government's bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch's sale to Bank of America and ongoing worries about Washington Mutual and other firms.

"There's a fear of a financial system meltdown going on, and it's grounded in the headlines we're seeing about the series of firms that are in trouble," said Paul Rabbit, president of Rabbit Capital Management.

On The Newshour (PBS) last night all three of the financial experts on the show thought things would keep getting worse for another year anyway (one of them thought that was optimistic, he had a very dour outlook).