The other shoe drops

Merrill went to the confessional today:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Merrill Lynch & Co Inc (MER.N) on Thursday said it took a $14.1 billion writedown and adjustments in the fourth quarter as bad subprime mortgage bets forced the brokerage to sell pieces of the company to foreign investors to raise capital.

Analysts expected Merrill's write-down to land anywhere from $10 billion to $15 billion. For the year, Merrill's subprime mortgage-related losses totaled nearly $23 billion.

$23 billion -- if this keeps up, it could add up to something big.