As the curtain rises on the second presidential debate, President Barack Obama’s crony capitalist empire is crumbling. 

First, markets received word that troubled lithium ion battery manufacturer A 123–which received the enthusiastic endorsement of President Obama and Democrats on Capitol Hill, as well as $249 million in taxpayer money–had filed for bankruptcy.

Then news exploded that Citicorp CEO Vikram Pundit, who had guided the bank through the financial crisis and the TARP bailout, and who is considered close to the Obama administration and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, is leaving his post.

One of Mitt Romney’s most memorable lines from the first presidential debate on Oct. 3 was: “[Y]ou don’t just pick the winners and losers, you pick the losers.”

On all fronts–foreign and domestic–Obama’s policies are falling apart.