This is like the 5:00 Horror back in the early days of the Bush administration, back in the innocent days when we thought the problem might be incompetence. Bloomberg:

From Wall Street to Washington, the U.S. credit crisis has claimed the leisurely weekend along with Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Washington Mutual Inc.

``The news cycle is ruining everyone's weekend,'' Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist for Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in New York, said in an e-mail. In addition to working more at the office, he's tethered to his BlackBerry on Saturdays and Sundays ``waiting for the next shoe to drop.''

Every weekend since Labor Day, the meltdown has forced U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve officials, members of Congress and Wall Street executives to huddle under pressure to react before Asian markets reopened.

On Saturday, Sept. 6, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson gathered with the chief executive officers of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. On Sunday, Sept. 7, the government seized control of the mortgage-finance companies.

The following weekend, New York Fed President Timothy Geithner summoned Wall Street leaders to discuss the possible sale of Lehman Brothers. By Sunday night, Lehman was preparing bankruptcy papers and Merrill Lynch & Co. was selling itself to Bank of America Corp.

``Every weekend, there's been a crisis,'' said David Kotok, chief investment officer at Cumberland Advisors Inc. in Vineland, New Jersey, which manages $1 billion in assets.

``I've been here the last three Sundays, and I'll be here this Sunday,'' John Silvia, chief economist at Wachovia Corp., said on Sept. 26, referring to the bank's Charlotte, North Carolina, headquarters. ``A lot of people are here.''

In Congress, the crisis has forced committees to schedule votes on other matters to late on weekend nights. The House Committee on Rules voted on tax-relief and energy-related bills at 10 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 28, a ``highly unusual'' time slot, said Emily Davis, a spokeswoman for Representative Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican who sits on the committee.

Interesting. And I'm sure it's all just a coincidence.

Because what else would it be?