Conditioning

Dr. Pavlov would be so proud:

A high-level meeting between top Wall Street executives, US Federal Reserve and Treasury Department officials Friday night was, at least in part, an attempt to prepare Wall Street for the possibility that a Lehman Brothers deal might not get done this weekend, CNBC has learned.

That the government now has to hold meetings with executives to inform them that maybe there is no plan to save this week's losers illustrates how quickly the captains of capitalism have become conditioned to rely on the government.

Perhaps it would be fitting to have Comrade Bernanke ringing the opening bell on Wall Street from here on out.

(picture hat tip: DL)