Media moguls gathered at the Plaza Hotel on Central Park last week and fear was in the rarefied air.

Quadrangle Group’s annual Foursquare gathering in New York attracted all the usual suspects, from Michael Eisner to Sam Zell to Mort Zuckerman to Craig Newmark. As per tradition, it was off the record but at a private dinner hosted by Condé Nast’s Portfolio that some of the attendees of the conference showed clear signs that the nation's economic uncertainty was wearing on them.

John Cassidy, Jesse Eisinger, Kyle Pope, and I discussed the state of the markets, the likely next Treasury Secretary, the media's role in the meltdown, and when the clouds will lift from the economic landscape.

Cassidy and Eisinger are pessimists—if not by nature at least by necessity—and right now, they see few positives on the horizon.

More interesting, though, were the questions from the crowd. Like all of us, they are still grappling with the complexity and far-reaching nature of the current crisis.

They are concerned with the credit default swaps and the impact that market can have on Goldman Sachs, how to fix the housing crisis without rewarding irresponsible borrowers, and whether advertising as the media industry knows it will ever return.

For more on that and a taste of Portfolio editor Joanne Lipman's sitdown with real estate-mogul-turned-media-baron Sam Zell, check out the videos here.