Bloomberg notes that there is a silver lining to the financial carnage we've been seeing: Bank mergers soared and, in fact, accounted for more than 60 percent of global mergers and acquisition activity since the beginning of September. The news service says Morgan Stanley, Lazard and Merrill Lynch have been among the big winners. All in all, you've got to think that the trend is down. While companies across the economy are cheap, there's not a lot of financing activity going on. True, there could be some strategic deals cropping up. And there may be some bank deals to be struck. Regardless, the biggest deal maker right now may end up being the federal government. If the government buys new shares in some banks, as expected, you have to wonder: Will that generate any fees? If they end up buying lots of ailing securities, will they pay commissions? Will Joe Taxpayer get a deal?

For more:
- here's the Bloomberg article on bank deals and M&A fees