Confidence falls in U.S. authorities' ability to ease financial panicPedro Nicolaci da Costa, ReutersPublished: Thursday, July 17, 2008NEW YORK -- The nightmare scenario for U.S. economic authorities is here: Confidence in their ability to rescue the country from a housing-led financial panic is now at its lowest level since the crisis began.This means losses for investors, already totalling nearly half a trillion dollars, could mount even further over the next few months, with implications for ...