Our country is touting democracy - free markets - and practicing government bailouts and ownership - doubletalk - communism at best? Where are we headed with a band aide fix? We will face these same issues in another few years unless the core is fixed.. a free market - floating economy is just that .. either it works or it doesn't .. you can't support a bailout and believe in free market capitalism... it is time to admit that you have to let it float out - and see if capitalism is the answer - or you are the same as the communists - whose system, by the way, ALSO failed.... let it play out - you may be surprised that we can survive this and remain a beacon of hope for the world!

The sky is falling the sky is falling !! Only the GOP can stop the sky from falling !!!

LOL this routine works every election year. Sheep.

I couldn't have said it better.

And who is Paulson if not a WOLF in SHEEP's clothing!!!??? Hurry, hurry! It nust be done NOW without scrutiny!

well one more step towards the downfall of our country. lets see now I will lend you money to buy a house i know you can't afford, but i am not worried because George Bush will save me and my million dollar salary. Refusing the bail out will hurt No doubt, but we will survive it. Let AIG fail. There are alot of rich people in our country who will step up and be willing to lend money. Prices will adjust all around.
Instead of bailing out the companies why not set up a govt looan for homeowners using the 700 billion. The govt could charge a lower interst rate and help people directly. at an average mortgage at 300,000 that would help over 2,500,000 families.
Another reason to deny this bailout is simply because Pres. Bush is for it. He has spent 7 3/4 years lying stealing, and mis leading this country but says trust me on this. Where was his concern when gas was $4.50 a gallon and his oil buddies were raking in the dough. That didn't hurt the economy according to him. that was free trade blah blah. this bailout is wrong.
Please join in and call your congressmen to say no to this. I say we the people need to step it up vote out or recall any politician who votes yes on this. There is not an honest politician in the whole bunch. Demand a none of the above on the ballots, quit donating money to the curropt officials. Don,t buy any products from any company that pulls out of america but wants to sell their stuff here. Get involved people our country is hurting, but our kids country is in real danger.

I say, To the Congress, if you vote for this Corporate Welfare of 700 Billion Dollars, We the People will Vote you out of office !!!

its as simple as that, if you vote for This 700 billion dollar bail out, we the people will consider it as a sign that you congressmen and senators do not want to be re-elected.

Very well said! I agree 100% as any hardworking American that loves his country should.

And COBRA costs more than a mortgage payment.

I still dont get it. Financial institutions chose to fund questionable loans. They can either re-negociate the terms with the property owner or take back the property and resell it at its true value and write off the loss. They are dragging their feet with both options, thats why there are so many homes on the market in foreclosure. Now with a $700 billion dollar carrot dangling they will wait for the bailout and let things get worse. Like most taxpayers it seems like we are bailing out the rich.

I agree one size fits all policy no perks for execs unless the wealth is share throughout the company. I paid into a disability plan when I became disabled I got nothing only SSDI after 9 months execs get it instantaneously.

THERE SHOULD BE NO BAILOUTS OF ANY OF THE "toxic" DEBT FIASCO. THE KEY WORD NOW IS TO STABILIZE THE ---"GLOBAL" ECONOMY. WHERE THE MONEY IS GOING!

THEY NOW SAY THE 700B
WOULD ALSO BE USED TO COMPENSATE ALL THE FOREIGN INVESTORS WITH BAD INVESTMENTS
IN F/F AND THE U.S. STOCK MARKET.
THIS IS MAD!! TO PAY BACK --RUSSIA, CHINA, INDONESIA, INDIA, PHILIPPINES, GERMANY, ITALY, THE UAE, AND THE SAUDIS -- WOULD USE UP ALL THE APPROPRIATION AND LEAVE NOTHING TO PROTECT THE US SMALL INVESTORS. HOW DO YOU TELL RUSSIA'S OR CHINA'S
SOVEREIGN FUNDS,--- TOUGH, BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME!! (China lost $380B) ALL THESE DEBTS WOULD THEN BE OWED BY THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!!

THESE PEOPLE ARE CRAZY!,-- AND WE REFUSE TO PLAY THE GAME!! WALL STREET CRAPPED ON THE LAWN AND THEY CAN SURE AS HELL CLEAN IT UP!!
=======
THEY HAVE ALREADY RUINED THOUSANDS OF AMERICANS WITH THE TAKE OVER OF F/F!
---Common stock of $26B, held by the small investor, -- "Common shareholders of the stock of Fannie and Freddie Mac will be virtually wiped out by the plan, which would balloon the shares of companies to give a nearly 80 percent stake to the government."--------
ONLY PREMIUM STOCK WILL BE PROTECTED. =======

THIS BAIL OUT SHOULD JUST ABOUT FINISH US OFF! (TIME TO OIL THE SECOND AMENDMENT!)

WITH NO HAND OUT FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE, -- THE MARKET WILL HAVE TO HEAL ITSELF!!
THIS 700B WILL GO DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE AND JUST ADD TO THE OVER 20 TRILLION OF
DEBT ALREADY OWED BY BUSH AND HIS "FOLLIES". (I had nothing to do with it and I don't
owe them a dime!!!!!!!

No golden parachutes How about a lead one? Fire them, then they can collect unemployment and try to figure out how to get health care for their family and pay their mortgage. Trading Places 2008

I want to say first....I Love my President! I think he is a fine Christian man doing the best he can. Everyone blaming him for the economy is preposterous. He was right in his response to the terrorists, I am behind him all the way. Except on this buy out. I am no financial guru....but I too think we should let this play out. All these investments were made with risks attached. I have a little invested in mutual funds, money market, and IRAs.....But I knew when I invested there were RISKS. I pay my mortgage, if I get to where I cant, I fully expect the bank to foreclose. I made the debt and I owe it. I do not expect nor do I think it is right for the government to get involved in my finances or the big investors either. If it was my tiny little bit of investment going bad they would tell me to live and learn. This country has made it through financial problems before, I know it wont be easy but with hard work and trust in God, we will overcome and hopefully do it in a way to show the rest of the world how democracy should work.

its always the same thing with these companies when we need help or some forgiveness on our bills they charge all this interest to us .when we need a home or a car they charge us these super fees to get these items. in general we should be the ones to receive the bail out when all of these people are living out of their cars cause the banks did not care to bail them out why should we help them. when the big companies asked for bankruptcy reform so they can have protection it was given to them.why must us people help out these companies we don't get to live in these home for free we will still get put out if the owner can catch up on the bills to keep the home. I'm upset with this bail out its not for the people it for the companies as always we will suffer watch how they treat us after this happens still the same ole 2step (sorry your are not qualified for this loan your credit is to low )

Absolutely! And then the employee is let go because of some dumb decisions made by much highly levels that trickled down to having to lay off employees! Looks like Harvard and Yale need to add decision making as well as ethical behavior in their curriculum --

For all those who voted yes on the bail out, I suggest you take the time to visit this web site called: www.zeitgeistthemovie.com and watch this two hour full length motion picture about our "fearless leaders" with all their lies and deceits and then see if you still feel the same. Don't be a sucker! We fell for the ridiculous reasons for entering the Gulf war as we did with all the previous wars and now our president is trying to sell us another lemon with this bail out scam! HELLO!!!!!!!!

Yes!

Everyone should watch that movie.

It will lay out exactly WHY you are being screwed.

Our 'leaders' are forcing us to a violent revolution...and its long over due.

I agree the CEO's who helped to create this mess don't deserve a single dime of our money for the bailout. Anyone else would have been fired and forced to ask for unemployment.

I do feel sorry for the people who lost their jobs and found themselves in forclosure. I don't feel sorry for those who borrowed beyond what they could afford. Lets the bubble fully burst, then maybe the house prices will drop to realistic levels so that middle income families can afford them again.

Why spend money to bail out a paper problem? A shell game exposed when accounting practices were required by law to be cleaned up.

Why an emergency now? So their funny money can be replaced with real dollars... and the tax payers will be left holding the funny money.

Sure wish our representatives would remember who they are SUPPOSED to represent.

This is financial socialism at best, it should be a crime.

This bailout will cost every man, woman, and child in America approximately $2300. Wow! What a coincidence, if I had $2200, I could keep my house out of foreclosure. Then add the $4600 for my two children and I could have equity in it again - almost.

Give me the money (and others in the same boat) and we will pay our mortgages, thus 'bailing' out the banks...etc...

Nevermind. Just take the $700 billion and give it straight to the banks so they can write off the foreclosures they own and start the cycle over again, foreclosing a whole new group of homes and, in about 6 months, they can have my house, too! I'm tired of struggling with this bad economy and getting stuck for one bad government decision after another.

I'm against the $85 Billion bailout of AIG. Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85 Billion to America in a We Deserve It Dividend.

Let's assume there are 200,000,000 bonafide U.S. Citizens 18+. Our population is about 301,000,000 counting every man, woman and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up. So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals $425,000.00. The plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a We Deserve It Dividend. Of course, it would NOT be tax free. So let's assume a tax rate of 30%.

Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes. That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam. But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.
A husband and wife have $595,000.00. What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?

Pay off your mortgage – housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans – what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college – it'll be there
Save in a bank – create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car – create jobs
Invest in the market – capital drives growth
Pay for your parent's medical insurance – health care improves
Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed Forces. If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President.

If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

Your math is wrong. It is $425 per person not $425,000. Makes a huge difference doesn't it. Besides this is not a bail out. It is a loan and with the assets of AIG there is probably a pretty good chance it will be paid back. Giving the money to citizens is a bail out and will not be paid back.

If you pick up a calculator and do the math on this, you would see that $85 billion divided by 200 million would only equal $425.00 per person.

Your math skills could use some improvement. At the end of the day AIG will cost us $425 per person in a worst case scenario and we get a piece of the action.
The President indeed sent out $300 to each adult. That wasn't good enough even though some partisains complained it was a waste of government money. Now the same nay-sayers want to send out another bailout to the american public but his time they want it to be substantial.
Then the government tried to let Lehman fail. Many said this was a good idea until they started to realize how much Lehman was backing their 401K, mortgages, equipment loand, etc. Many said they were to big to have been allowed to fail.
Then the government bailed out AIG because they felt they were too big to fail and you take that estimated figure for your example. Remember that AIG is a very healthy company with one bad division. Even that division has some good amonst the bad but perceptions are bringing down the entire house.
Now there is another effort to help out Main Street and that is insuring the portfolio of bad debt. Once again you must remember that much of that debt is actually good but it has been bundled with the bad. Rather like having two forclosed houses in your neighborhood bringing down the value of your home.
Who knows if the $700 bil will stop the bleeding. Nothing will happen to your scumbag neighbors who bought what they couldn't afford and now are leaving us holding their debt. The Wall Street firms that increase the value of your retirement, represent a great deal of the net worth of many Americans, provide you loans and insurance just might be able to survive. If so, our economy which is built on monetary velocity will get back on track.
Anyway, come January we will repeat an age old cycle of blaming the departing President for all the world's ills. Hell, it's his fault that I am overweight. It's probably also his fault that his education iniative failed to help your math skills. No wonder so many Americans don't understand what is happening.

These "Lawmakers" are bailing out their buddies. Look at the Biographies of the Corporate Board Members of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehnman Brothers, AIG.

You will see former members of Halliburton, Federal Reserve Bank, club membership with Economic Club (conspiracy?), IBM, Presidential Advisors.

These are the same Corporate Board Members that sit on numerous boards. They keep voting for their own outrageous Salaries/Benefits/Bonuses/Separation Packages.

These people succeeded in bring the U.S. Economy into crisis, something the 911 Terrorists failed to do. Therefore, try them as what they are Terrorists. We are currently at war, "Global War Against Terrorism", these are domestic Terrorists. They willing made the choice to stuff their pockets with money instead of the entire United States of America. During World War II, this would have been considered Treason (wikipedia definition). These people would have been tried by Military Tribunal and executed.

To call these people what they are: Treasonous Terrorists.

Detain them at Guantanimo indefinitely, no legal representation, no communication, trial by Military Tribunal, not U.S. Court. Just like the other Terrorists.

DO NOT BAIL OUT THE unAmerican Auto Industry (Ford, GM, Chrysler). Unless we get shares at the same rate as Corporate Executives (exaggeration: 300 shares for $1.00). These people are responsible for reinvesting their profits into their own business. No shares for us. Ok then they can be also tried as what they are for sabotaging the U.S. Industrial Complex, part of the U.S. Defense Industrial Complex (Warfighthing, Defensive Capabilities) same as the other bumbs of Lehnman Brothers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG.

If you don't do something about these bumbs they are going to keep coming back for "mo money", look at how many times the unAmerican Auto Industry has asked to be bailed out. This bull@!$%# about retooling, research has been going on since 1970s. GM, Ford already have built more than 3 million E100 and more "Flex Fuel" Vehicles in Brazil (ethanol fuel in Brazil, wikipedia). Isn't lying under oath to Congress a crime?

I keep saying that Ford, GM, Chrysler are unAmerican. That is the truth, where are they built, Mexico and Canada. So unless the United States of America annexed Mexico and Canada as new States. These are Mexican and Canadian products. Putting on one or two bolts at an assembly plant in the U.S. on a car made in Mexico or Canada is not assembled in the U.S. stop lying. The only real American Auto Plants are located in Kentucky, Toyota; California, Honda; Alabama, Hyundai; Nissan, USA.. Americans building cars for Americans. Stop lying to the Citizens of the United States of America, we know. Since 1994 NAFTA, Ford GM Chrysler and afterwards all their U.S. Auto Manufacturing was being sent to Mexico or Canada. This makes them Canadian or Mexican built or assembled that makes Ford, GM or Chrysler Canadian or Mexican, NOT AMERICAN.

These "Lawmakers" are bailing out their buddies. Look at the Biographies of the Corporate Board Members of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Lehnman Brothers, AIG.

You will see former members of Halliburton, Federal Reserve Bank, club membership with Economic Club (conspiracy?), IBM, Presidential Advisors.

These are the same Corporate Board Members that sit on numerous boards. They keep voting for their own outrageous Salaries/Benefits/Bonuses/Separation Packages.

These people succeeded in bring the U.S. Economy into crisis, something the 911 Terrorists failed to do. Therefore, try them as what they are Terrorists. We are currently at war, "Global War Against Terrorism", these are domestic Terrorists. They willing made the choice to stuff their pockets with money instead of the entire United States of America. During World War II, this would have been considered Treason (wikipedia definition). These people would have been tried by Military Tribunal and executed.

To call these people what they are: Treasonous Terrorists.

Detain them at Guantanimo indefinitely, no legal representation, no communication, trial by Military Tribunal, not U.S. Court. Just like the other Terrorists.

DO NOT BAIL OUT THE unAmerican Auto Industry (Ford, GM, Chrysler). Unless we get shares at the same rate as Corporate Executives (exaggeration: 300 shares for $1.00). These people are responsible for reinvesting their profits into their own business. No shares for us. Ok then they can be also tried as what they are for sabotaging the U.S. Industrial Complex, part of the U.S. Defense Industrial Complex (Warfighthing, Defensive Capabilities) same as the other bumbs of Lehnman Brothers, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG.

If you don't do something about these bumbs they are going to keep coming back for "mo money", look at how many times the unAmerican Auto Industry has asked to be bailed out. This bull@!$%# about retooling, research has been going on since 1970s. GM, Ford already have built more than 3 million E100 and more "Flex Fuel" Vehicles in Brazil (ethanol fuel in Brazil, wikipedia). Isn't lying under oath to Congress a crime?

I keep saying that Ford, GM, Chrysler are unAmerican. That is the truth, where are they built, Mexico and Canada. So unless the United States of America annexed Mexico and Canada as new States. These are Mexican and Canadian products. Putting on one or two bolts at an assembly plant in the U.S. on a car made in Mexico or Canada is not assembled in the U.S. stop lying. The only real American Auto Plants are located in Kentucky, Toyota; California, Honda; Alabama, Hyundai; Nissan, USA.. Americans building cars for Americans. Stop lying to the Citizens of the United States of America, we know. Since 1994 NAFTA, Ford GM Chrysler and afterwards all their U.S. Auto Manufacturing was being sent to Mexico or Canada. This makes them Canadian or Mexican built or assembled that makes Ford, GM or Chrysler Canadian or Mexican, NOT AMERICAN.

www.votenobailout.org

$85 Billion to bail out AIG. Let's try another way better suited for all. Say there is 200 M. adults in the US. Divide the 85B by the 200M equals $425K per adult. We of course have to pay tax on it so each adult gives back (at 30%) 127.5K leaving each adult with 297.5K. They could pay off their mortgage that soves the housing crisis. If they put in bank that makes money available for loans. If they buy a car that makes jobs. If they invest well capital drives growth. As for AIG liquidate it. Let American General be American General. Sell off the real estate and investors will grab it up again more money into the economy. This would be an economic boom for the whole country. We are not responsible for AIG so why are WE paying for it?
This is a better idea by far and is a win win for everyone.

I think you are on the right track if there is such a thing in this "Golden Era of Bush"
what is scary is to think of how many centuries it will take to overcome this and America's
previously ridiculous deficit, oddly Mexico is sounding better and better all the time!

we get no handouts, the people who live high off the hog playing the stock markets may have to come down to earth with the rest of us peasants. let the Clintons start sending all the jobs overseas, who will buy their products? americans won't be able to! they made their beds let them lie in it sink or swim , oh yeah "GOD BLESS AMERICA" and I don't care what person doesn't like it go back where you came from and practice whatever you want you do as the romans do or keep your mouth shut

Please be advised that carefully considered "yes, but..." responses are counted as yes. I do suspect the numbers themselves might be taken in account by those we seemingly hope to influence. However this isn't like Congress where lawmakers are negotiating with peers for future concessions or what have you. Likewise "no, but they're real close" counts as no.

this sounds like a broken record. just b/c all the big guns need some $. is this really a crisis or manipulation of the stock market?? all i know is my dollar is worth less and less. apparently it is ok to overvalue homes and borough 125% of your note... this is the norm not the exception. my parents needed 35% of their down-payment or no home, period. banks were given a green light to do whatever. this is what they get. they had the pencils in their pockets to lift us out of the crisis. they chose to gauge us - let them swim in their bad decisions.

Is this George Bush and his cronies last attempt to destroy our country completely. The next move will be for John McCain to suspend his campaign for another four years so George can complete the destruction of our country.

It's not just democrats who are against this bailout, many republicans are, too. The questions I have are: Why when these "lenders" set predatory interest rates after a few years of low rates they were able to foreclose on hardworking, if naive, homeowners? Why didn't they re-adjust the rates lower so homeowners could keep their homes? If they wouldn't forgive debt for the masses, why in the world should we allow our chosen representatives to forgive their debt for lack of oversight and greed?!! We the people have to pay for our mistakes, these corrupt, greedy corporations should, too. This is not about partisanship (there are good people in both parties), it's about fair-play and responsibility. I was always taught the "Golden Rule," treat others as you would want to be treated. What goes around comes around, and it's time for Wall Street to take their hits, just like the rest of us.

The Bush Administration has zero credibility. Who do you believe? I believe the 700 Billion is intended as Golden Parachutes for Bush Friends and Family. It has the same purpose as oil price speculation.

But the banking system is in a shambles. through corruption, malfeasance and downright dereliction of duty on the part of senior level bank managers and government officials. Of course they are sailing on their yacht outside the reach of law enforcement. They aren't affected by this crisis since they are floating on their $50M parachute. It's are own fault for allowing them to act recklessly and retire with impunity. Maybe, finally, we'l learn our lessons that we must be actively involved in policing the fat cats.

Oddly enough, they are laughing all the way AWAY from the bank.

The Mortgage Lenders are at fault for this entire mess !

They handed money out hand over fist to people that just plain could not afford the monthly payments.
Mortgages filled with Traps and ARM'S that just got out of reach.

Now it's up to us? the the US tax payer to make Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac monthly payments for the poor folks that shouldn't have moved in that brand new home to start with.

It seems a bit silly to ask if they should approve it- they will soon. There is no choice.

I think that when this is all over the banks that were selling homes to the people in the red line district should have to spend some time I jail. The way that these people were tricked into buying these homes doesn't mean they were bums it just means they were talk into things buy the slick realtor who would say you can get in this house with no money down and the payments will be this much, than when the people would get in the house and they would work hard to make there payment boom the payment would go up and up and up until they could not afford to live there anymore and they would have to pack up the children and the dog and live out of there car until they could rent so where.

This is the story I hear every day, and it really breaks my heart, cause these were people who had all the intentions of making there payment and raising there children in the same house and than there dream are shattered so to just say they bought to much house is not correct because they bought the house thinking they could pay for it and than the note on the house when up and up and up, and another thing most of these people didn't move into a brand new house, they got one that was maybe 5 or 10 years old.

All of this is because Realtors and banks, and mortgage companies had to get there piece of the pie,the commission for every house they were able to move. that's were it all got started.

Next you have the bond market it started to fail because the bonds were sold in bundles that were not what they were support to be there is triple A bonds they are at the top of the list well the band and the mortgages house were putting junk in with the triple A bond and than selling them like they were all the same thing and they were sold all over the world and that how we got in this mess and the stock market help to spread it all around in every country in the world. I just heard the China's government has instructed it's bank not to loan the United States anymore money, I heard that on NPR.

I do think there will have to be some stabilizing assistance from us, the taxpayers. The Golden parachute payouts will be impossible to enforce, while we are given the impression that Congress wants to "protect" us. These are the same congressmen that daily approve earmarks and fat in laws that burden us significantly more. There is no doubt that we will be taken advantage of--but unfortunately, if we do not brace up the system the pain will likely be worse.

Dawn, God has nothing to do with this. What would Jesus do? Invade a country which had nothing to do with 9/11? What would Jesus do? Not fully fund an education program he, himself, promoted? What would Jesus do? Turn a blind eye to the moneylenders at the expense of others? (It is easier for a rich man to go through the eye of a needle?) What would Jesus do? Veto a children's health program? Would he allow torture of anyone? Would he use the Justice Dept. to tread on people's civil rights?

I do not know what is in our president's heart, but I do know that he is and will go down in history as the worst president this country has ever had. He has set us back in international affairs and reputation where even our friends cannot trust us; he has ruined our economy by allowing this to happen during his administration; we are now in the midst of fighting two wars costing us billions of dollars; his elections as president will be recorded in history books as suspicious; he has blatantly lied to us over and over again; his original supporters jumped ship when they saw what he was doing (3 secretaries of treasury? 3 press secretaries?); he has used more veto power, exertion of executive privilege, and signing statements than any other presidents. Just awful!

A free market economy, as much as it should be maintained, is what has caused this situation. No one advocates a socialist economy, but at the same time, regulation does generally keep these kinds of things from happening. If Wall Street is failing, how do they pull themselves out of this mess?

All I have to say is this: Republicans are concerned about abandoning their laissez-faire principles. Sounds suspiciously like the fall of 1929. They are presiding over an economic slide for which their party will shoulder blame for generations. Something needs to be done, and it needs to be done soon.

Please, be realistic - if there are any loopholes politicians will use them. No deal, no provisions is the only way to go. If they aren't willing to help the public out when fuel prices soared beyond reason, sending many folks into bankruptcy and foreclosure, then there is no reason to bailout anyone.
WE are the backbone of this country and it's time politicians and corp america realizes this - without us they fail, but we can surely do without them.
You want a real Bailout? Split the proposed funds up between every adult in this country over the age of 18. You're looking at near $400k a piece. You want to see debts go down and the economic crisis to be over? That'd do it - many homes, and nearly all credit cards and lines of credit would be paid off over night, then these companies wouldn't be facing bankruptcy anymore, they would be very liquid, and public credit scores would skyrocket.
Sounds like a win-win scenario. (sure, some would take advantage of the situation, but the odds are things would settle down and the "crisis" would be over, and the gov't would not be sticking it's fingers into anyones biz.)

WAKE UP EVERYONE YOU ARE ALL BEING MISLEAD YOUR GOVERNMENT HAS FAILED YOU. TAKE YOUR MONEY OUT OF BANKS AND SAVE IT YOURSELF. OUR FEDERAL RESERVE NOTES ( MONEY ) IS WORTHLESS AND THE ONLY THING YOU AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE DOING BY SPENDING IT AND WANTING MORE OF IT IS CREATING INTEREST. THE FEDERAL RESERVE IS A PRIVATE BANK ITS NOT FEDERAL AT ALL. IF OUR GOVERNMENT BORROWS MONEY AND PRINTS IT FROM THE RESERVE IT CREATES INTEREST, SO WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? IT MEANS THAT EVERY DOLLAR YOU SPEND HAS A TAX ALREADY ON IT "YOUR TAX" HENCE THE FEDERAL INCOME TAX!!! I REMEMBER LONG AGO IN THE DAYS OF PATRIOTS WHEN THEY HAD SOMETHING CALLED A BOSTON TEA PARTY WHERE THEY REFUSED TO BE TAXED, THEY REFUSED TO HAVE THIS ABOMINATION KNOWN AS A TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION.... WAKE UP EVERYONE JUST OPEN YOUR EYES PLEASE ITS THE LAST THING YOU CAN DO TO NOT SUPPORT THE RESERVE THEY ARE CONTROLLING YOUR LIVES. SOMEONE GETS PAID 1600$ A MONTH AND THEY ONLY GET 1350 BACK AFTER FEDERAL TAXES. AND SUPPOSEDLY YOU GET IT ALL BACK... NO YOU DON'T THEY TAKE IT AND PUT IT IN THEIR BANK AND MAKE THAT INTEREST FOR THAT YEAR THEN PAY YOU THE RETURN THAT THEY FIGURED IN FOR YOU!!!!! WAKE UP AMERICA YOU ARE ALL BEING USED, AND MANIPULATED.... GOD BLESS AMERICA ABOLISH THE FEDERAL RESERVE!!!!! THE FEDERAL INCOME TAX IS ILLEGAL AND SHOULD NEVER HAVE CAME INTO BEING BY A "PRIVATE BANK ( FEDERAL RESERVE) "

the bums should not get a dime! but please realize that the total of executive compensation would be less than 500 million dollars- less than one half of 1% of the money the are going to rip off from us and give to innocent(largly fat cat) investors. that one half of 1% should not make you feel better about this rip. they should not get a dime regardless of their pay no attention to the man behind the curtain i.e. big investors and the polititians they have bought

what is your solution to a complete economic crash? Sometimes the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. If you have good ideas, call your congressman.

ROBERT YOUR NOT VERY SMART ARE YOU ,THE BAILOUT IS NOT FOR THE WORKING MAN

Why are people afraid of capitalism? WaMu failed and Chase brought out their assets. Did the people who had their money or funds held by WaMu loose anything? NO! This is what happens.

We should not be bailing these banks out. If we do, homeowners will loose the leverage they have and banks will have no incentive to negotiate or to a good job because the tax payer will foot the bill.

Even though they say the tax payers are protected, that bull. The so call protection is only good if the market turns up and the loans get paid. But the whole point is THESE ARE BAD LOANS and we will be left holding the bag while Wall Street gets a free pass.

There are times such as these that you have to circle the wagons. The bailout is a necessary step. This is not a perfect answer but there never is one perfect answer. We must be diligent in the future to avoid having to take such drastic measures.

Why should the taxpayers pay for the mistakes of John McCain, the Bush family, the Cheney Family (Halliburton) and Ronald Mr. Deregulator himself Reagan???

The CEO'S and companies that have benefited through the last 26 years are now going to benefit further for their misuse of funds.

The regular guy on the street would be in jail if he did what the CEO'S and the above politicians have done.

We the people need to stop this bailout and all bailouts. The only bailout the regular guy gets and it has to be legal is bankruptcy, but the government doesn't send him a $700 billion check and his credit is shot for 10 years.

NO MORE BUSH DECISIONS! HIS REPORT CARD TELLS IT ALL. We have been suffering for almost eight years whats three more months? Let our new president who will have fresh interest in our future take over where it stands.

How can anyone blame this on Bush? It is congress that is to blame. And I feel it is the democrats butts we should hold to the fire! We had over 4 years of growth under President Bush after 911. All we ever hear from democrats is "8 years of failed policy" I call bullcrap! We had many years of growth that can't be denied.
The democrats are the ones that wanted everyone to be able to own a home. They closed their eyes and let the financial sector run wild. If you had a pulse you qualified for a home loan. The mortgage companies knew they could sell their bad loans to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. And for every loan that Fannie and Freddie purchased their executives got huge bonuses. Of course they were kind and shared some of this money with congress. Democrats received the majority of these "gifts". Barack Obama has only been around a few years and he's number two on the list! Right behind Chris Dodd!

All we keep hearing is "failed Bush policy". Bullcrap! More tax dollars were coming in to the federal government from 2002 to 2006 than ever before in history.

And this "tax breaks for the rich" bullcrap! Everybody got a tax cut, EVERYBODY! And even with the tax breaks the government was pulling in a lot of money. That's because the people with the money were spending it.

We got the democrat take over of 2006 and things are going downhill.

Go ahead and vote for the most liberal man in office today. Just be warned we will be in deeper trouble in the years to come.

NO BAILOUT - it's the democrats that want this - the republicans are trying to slow them down. I know they say it's the Bush plan and it is. But he can recommend something and then congress has to let it become law. The republicans are mostly against it. If there was an investigation of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd you would see why they are pushing so hard for this to pass. They would end up in jail if people knew how derelict they were in their duty to the American people.

Let me remind you that Reagan brought deregulation and McCain was his Foot Soldier and as for the last 14 years congress has been controlled by the Republicans for 12 years and the Dems for 2 years and the White House the GOP for the last 8 years so blame the Republicans yes for they don't believe in regulation and checks and balances.

This is the sad facts over the last 26 years. The Bush Family has benefited the most from all this. Both Bush administrations hurt the little guy but the Clinton administration balanced the budget and helped the little guy.

That is how we can blame Bush and the Republicans.

Why not just have them bail themselves out. CEO's can give back the big bucks they rec'd for nothing from all the corporations and it will probably be more than the first of the 700 billion (250 billion wasn't it?) I saw on the news this a.m. "CEO to rec. 13.6 million for 18 days of employment." OMG! What if he'd worked for 6 months, a year, 2 years? THIS is what is wrong people. If they vote NO, then these CEO's will be without jobs too. But they don't care because they have more than they can spend now! YOU KNOW WHAT THE VOTE IS GOING TO BE THOUGH, THEY CAN'T LET THEIR FRIENDS DOWN NOW!

Absolutely no----------no------- Bailout. It won't help at all folks,we have to go through the mess the Republicans left us,that's for sure. Just use your vote and get Obama/Biden in the White-House than we can all help him to get our country back on track.just let you know it takes time and want happen overnight.This from an old man who knows first hand what an depression looks like. Good luck you all.

The Democrats like Obama/Biden are the ones that are in full support of this idea. Except they want to add even more money to it. It is the Republicans in the House that are standing up against it.

This is Bush's last laugh on us. It goes like this: George tried everything in his power to get his hands on social security and that didn't work out. So his new plan is: I'm going to clean out the treasury so the next president can't institute any of the programs he has campaigned on. He is stuck with all my failed policies. And while I'm at it, I'm going to tank all the retirement funds I can. I'm going to leave the country in the worst possible state I can. I don't care if it goes under, I got mine!

Can anybody be as stupid and incompetent as George is? Or was this all planned to rip off the country for as much as he can lay his hands on? Is he getting kickbacks for all the sweetheart deals he's made since he took office? How could an American president do this to America?

The dems are so brainwashed by the left wing media outlets. They actually believe all the bull cr*p they have been fed from the so called news networks. Let me give you the truth, Terrorists really killed almost 4,000 innocent people on 9/11, Bush was right to take them on in Afghanistan. Sadam wanted everyone to believe he had weapons of mass destruction and would not allow inspections to continue so we gave him time to let inspections to continue or step down, he did none of those things and we went in just like we warned him we would do. I wanted Sadam gone (as did most Americans at the time, even dems), again Bush did what most Americans thought was right and took out Sadam. Bush said we would fight the terrorists over there instead of here, and that is exactly what we are doing and have had no more attacks here (he was right again). There is no conspiracy and as I see it Bush has done a fine job with all his administration has had to deal with. We also have had a do nothing democratic congress that takes our tax money as their pay to stall and do nothing until they can get a democrat as president. Worse yet, they want us to vote for a do nothing Senator from Illinois (Obama) who just got potty trained not long ago. This economic crisis would have happened no matter who was President at this time and Bush is right to try to get this economy going again. The media leaves out most of the truth for now until they get you to vote for their man Obama. Obama's policies (democrat far left socialist policies) will bring this Country and the economy to it's knees if he is elected. We need to pass this bail out ASAP or face total economic collapse. Bush is not lying, he is right again.

To Ron H: I just want to know what planet you dropped off. We are going to H— — — — in a handbasket and you think Bush is doing a GOOD job? I still have that bridge . . ...

RonH is hardcore and should have his voter's card revoked.....it's disgusting

RonH. I'm sorry Ron,

Quote from A man named Russo concerning a conversation he had with N. Rockefeller
is as follows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nD7dbkkBIA

If that link doesn't work, google Russo utube.

if I lived in Italy or France or Japan or Russia or Spain or the Netherlands, or Africa or India or China, I would be screaming mad at what's happening in this world and how the shape shifters see the next ump-teen years going down! I would riot in the streets because their rights have been taken away just as much as our rights are being taken away. And Big business in the form of MEGA world dominating business will rule the entire world. There will be those who are so filthy rich, who also hold the keys to the media, to the money making machines, to our puppet governments, to even our religions, using our religions to manipulate us and NOBODY SHOULD WELD THAT MUCH POWER! NOBODY!

We have been subject to ramrod tactics. I know who really runs this country and it's not our government, it's the Federal Reserve and the military and big business. The rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer and control is what it's all about. Why don't you just go and get an RFID chip right now? Don't you understand? This is about control!

Now, I'm saying we already know how this is going to turn out, regardless of whether we bail out these institutions or not. An Empire has been built, obviously while most Americans were too busy working or asleep watching the non-existent news. We already know an Empire will not stand, it is doomed to fall. Look at the Roman Empire, it got too big and could not handle itself. It imploded. Human nature. Greed. Already, who is suffering? Its the little guy, it's always the little guy and we ain't seen nothin' yet bro.

Totally agreed. . .American is destined to be ancient Rome. I've thought that for 20 years!

I'll back you up Ron, You are 100% correct. The responsibility for the last 2 years falls on the Democrats for doing nothing. That's the way the system works. Congress and the House of Representatives are the ones to blame. The President cannot do anything without their approval he only has the power to Veto. Checks and balances.

The financial situation was coming regardless. I personally feel that when the facts come out that we find it was a huge amount of democratic voters that bled the banks dry by taking the money from loans they couldn't repay on over-inflated home values. We will also find that countries that are considered our enemies are manipulating the world markets as we speak to drive the US into the dirt and ruin our economy.

Iran, Venezuela, N. Korea, now Russia and several oil-rich middle east countries are behind this world market crisis bringing down the money values of US and our allies. I would not close my eyes to China either, they have alot of monetary strength right now. BTW, thank Clinton for that. Thank the Democrats for a weaker military and lop-sided trade policies.

Good factual post RonH.

Excuse me, but these are the same type of people that "AFTER" finding their use for MY retirement, laid me off after 34 years and called it "JUST BUSINESS". Had it not been for the money I had (on my own) invested, I would be without a home at this point. Let them take the rest of my investments and assets "IF" these greedy people could live in my shoes but for only one day!!!

Rewarding failed industry, financial or otherwise, is neither capitalist nor appropriate. The future financial burden of this bailout will negate any short term benefits. We are already indebted to China to the tune of over 40% of our national bond debt (+ or -), do we want to keep running that tab up? Why do you think substandard toys and products continue to enter the country? I digress. If you want to protect jobs, invest in small business, bring the SBA 8a and Grant programs back, and invest in SUCCESSFUL industries to help them grow and absorb job losses. Many (if not most) Americans don't have 401ks, IRAs, or other retirement vehicles- so your argument on that is both moot and selfish. The other issue that has not been mentioned is our pitifully performing dollar. We are no longer a nation of savers, and have not been since the 70's. Therefore, our non-tangibly backed dollar is negatively leveraged against foreign currencies and continues to get weaker. We, as a nation, don't need more credit to spend frivolously. We need to suck it up with the poor choices we have made, let those who acted with risk or indescretion suffer (sorry - too bad), start saving for our own future, and rebuild grass roots/community business interests.

WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COFFEE. WHO ARE YOU KIDDING. WHAT HOLE HAVE YOU BEEN HIDDING IN.

How come this sense of urgency comes about only when it hits Wall St? When you drive across this beautiful country, you see large commercial farms where family farms used to be, you see closed factories and dead towns where thriving communities used to be, you see small family businesses boarded up and Main Sts. deserted. No one said at the time that happened that we needed hundreds of billions of dollars for them, without explanation or oversight, and by the end of the week!

Maybe we lost our way when we stopped worrying about the people who actually make, do, create, and started catering to the wizards who push paper and have produced nothing themselves. I realize that's oversimplified and very old-fashioned but, in reference to the first part of your post, Hitobito, my 401(K) is intact. It's only earning about 4% because it's in a fixed-option, FDIC-insured bank, but I took it out of the risky stuff a few months ago, when it occurred to me that the machinations of Wall Street had no relation at all to the realities of American life.

Good point "I'm not perfect".

The government has never been willing or able to help the American people. Musicians have done more with organized concerts like "farm aid".

As far as I'm concerned is it's such an "emergency" why haven't more multi-millionairs and billionairs like Warren Buffett come forward with their own money to invest in Wall Street.

And Bush getting on TV last night stating that he's "calling a conference with Obama and McCain" after McCain wanted the same thing only made the situation smell even worse.

Interest rates are around an all time low. Where is the credit frozen at? Its all a bunch of paper trading. Mortgage rates in the early 90's were at 9% and people were able to buy houses.

The key is that America has had gains and made poor financial decisions based on extremely cheap capital. America has exceed its debt capacity level and is finding out that it can not pay. The is just the first step. The market needs a correction and the Government should let the market correct.

Lets be real. The Government is saving the greedy Wall Street group who contribute to the politicians checkbook.

It's a great country because of the people who fought to keep it this way - NOT because the government gave handouts

i would bet that your money is part of that 700B up for grabs. your retirement may not be so safe after all if this does not work. your money is insured by the fdic -- who insures them? you do!!

If the US economy sucks everything down with it, GREAT! At least we'd have a level playing field! The bailout plan may work. There's a chance that it will, but most likely it won't. If it fails, there is no plan B, and then we REALLY suffer! I say let the economy take a down-turn; it'd do it good... keep prices in check... make people realize how they're living.

Yeah well I want to see jobs. I'm one of those stuck in this economy and want to work, need to work. I'm one of those homeowners that use to be able to afford a mortgage. No one can afford a mortgage without a job. We are in a recession, this bail out is NOT going to correct that. I am sorry but even I don't agree with these bail outs.

This is for Donnie Harbert...My husband and I work hard and have invested diligently so we can retire and not be avail ourselves of govt. entitlements when we retire. Yet, we're selfish because we don't want to lose that.

The boomer generation is ready to retire, and they will damn well keep their full 401k values even if it means indebting future generations with a deficit which by Monday will have tripled since Clinton left office.

Thanks guys, thanks a bunch.

I say "off with their heads!"
It's just funny how quickly our government, or should I say "our rich&miserly mongers" are so willing and eager to spend our hard earned money to help their fellow rich people, while all of us "commoners" struggle to make it! What about the people down in Texas and New Orleans struggling to Survive because they lost everything!!? They are down there "screaming" for help and can't be heard over the "noise" that Wall Street is making!! Send that money to them! It would be easier to explain to my grandchildren why they are having to pay taxes for something that happened in our days! This whole country needs a congressional make-over! We need to do away with some things like electoral votes, and other bogus ideas and every one's vote should count! Populus should be the elected! While we're at it, this whole bail-out should be included in the 2nd Tuesday of November's ballots. We have to pay for it, we should be the ones to decide if we want to! Another thing: Why would McCain need to postpone a debate that happens on a Friday night? Does congress even work past 5:00 PM? I doubt it!!

Hey.... wake up and smell the coffee! We are working with a bunch of lying thieves here, our very own president as their leader! If you still believe in the war in Iraq and the president's proposal for this bail out, then I have a bridge I'd like to sell you too!

How do you know without this bail out you will lose all in your 401(k) or IRA? You don't that. Why are we rushing and have to have this decision by Monday? Economics is very complex and that is how many of you are being lulled into thinking we have to do this. How in the hell can so many of you just say, only if we cap executive pay? Or only if they bail this out too? Are you kidding? We are talking about eroding the very principals our country was founded on and you are adding it is alright as long as some executives only get $200K instead of a million. What?? No bail out. Period. We can't buy worthless assets and gain government ownership. Oh yeah, if you hadn't noticed, we are in a deep and harsh recession and banks have stopped lending money, so Bush's assertions on why this needs to be done today are incorrect. We do need to fix that problem but it has been going on for awhile now and for some reason it wasn't a priority until AIG. So, good now let's work on fixing the mortgage mess. Shame on those people who took out interest only ARM's and etc, and shame on the banks for allowing them. That is done and it has completely screwed up the economy. Let's fix it. Stop foreclosing, start working with home owners, work out ways for people to buy up the good houses owned by the banks and let's get this mess fixed without turning to nationalizing businesses.

Exactly!! I don't think the vast majority understand what has to be done here. No, I don't like the whole idea about bailing out the rich. Nor do I like the thought of bailing out the Mort/issues. And yes I did say Bush sounded exactly like he did when he purposed going to war in Iraq & finding Osama blah blah... But I also don't want to lose my IRA's nor do I want see my 401K depleted either. I don't know if there is going to be SSI by the time I retire so I need this. So I agree with you 100% it has to be done. We need this in order to continue with jobs, etc. I totally understand this. Do I like it no.. But again Americans if we don't do this we are headed into... Well, lets just say if your driving a nice a car and live in a nice home. You better have a hefty savings account to pay these fine things off. The one thing that will make me very pissed is if I hear that the CEO's of this "atrocity" retain any stocks, bonus's, severance packages, etc. That would be an award for the wrong doings. Just a thought: Partly to blame: Remember you have people who bought homes that was triple their salary and used the arm, & thinking they could make a good investment when it was time to get out and sell. Is that fair to us? Is it fair that we have to be punished because we used common sense when we bought our home? No! How is that gonna work? Do they still get to keep the home? Yep, I have no choice: I have to concur. And in closing Buffet did claim this was going to happen in 2000.

That's ridiculous, what makes you think if a few mismanaged banks go under it will be financial Armageddon? You have to stop listening to this propaganda. America will go on, better, without spending (borrowing) all of our assets this year. We might want to save something for a rainy day. This bailout simply helps a few companies, not the American people.

Nice euphemism, a $700 BILLION bailout of grossly mismanaged financial institutions is "market stabilization".

The bailout will perhaps hold off the coming doomsday for a few months (i.e., until after Election Day, which is the Republican intention), but ultimately our economy collapses no matter what.

The US economy does not have $700 billion in spare cash to buy up the $700 billion in Treasury notes that need to be issued to finance this bailout. If our economy did have that kind of surplus money, we would not be in this "liquidity crisis" that is locking up our financial system (that's not my claim, that's what Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and financial analysts are telling us). We will need foreign investors to buy even more of our debt. But already a huge amount of our national debt and private debt is being held by foreigners, including sovereign governments like China. When the Federal Reserve prints up an additional $700 billion in money to be be sold as Treasury notes, the result is a significant devaluing of the dollar. That means the dollars that foreign investors hold will be worth less. But foreign investors aren't stupid, they can see this coming. To protect themselves they will start selling off dollars before they get devalued. Once the dollar starts dropping, the decline will accelerate, as no one wants to be stuck with dollars as they spiral down. (This is what happened to stocks in financial companies recently, the downward trend scared investors and everyone starting bailing out.) When the dollar is going down, no one wants to be the "last man standing", the one still holding dollars that are now worth a fraction of what they were after everyone else has dumped theirs. It's going to be "sell quick or be left holding the bag." Thus, a collapse of the dollar.

With a collapsed dollar and the Fed still printing money to finance this $700 billion bailout, we end up with hyperinflation.

Dear precious people - the Bible (particularly Daniel and Revelation) has already foretold our future-- of the collapse of the US economy and of the world economy; of frightened people who will give up their freedoms for the sake of "security"; of world leaders' hopeless, desperate efforts to solve the overwhelming compounding world problems of increasing wars, natural disasters, crashing economies, famines, etc; of world leaders agreeing to the formation of a one-world-wide religious/political system in the false hope of establishing a more secure and peaceful world; of this system which will dictate not only economical laws and judicial laws, but also religious laws!

Dear people, it is time for JESUS TO RETURN and rescue a planet crushed under the weight of sin. Check it out online at www.amazingfacts.org

I feel sorry for you that you believe such nonsense. It should be noted that Sarah Palin believes in such fairy tales also. People with such beliefs will not really try to make this a better world, but will sit passively and wait for "the end times" to arrive.

Grow up, please.

oh, that's alright then. Jesus will take care of us all. No need to panic. What are those mooks in Washington thinking? Johnny boy, go debate, no need to do your PR stunt in Washington.

Hitobito, do you know anything about economics? If they go through with this bailout the dollar wont be worth the paper its printed on. The funds in your 401K or IRA wont be worth anything if we bailout the banks. When ever a government takes on greater debt the currency suffers.

Also, do you really think that all the homes that will be foreclosed will help the property value for everyone else? This bailout wont stop the foreclosures it will only help Wall Street and no one else.

Get a grip.

As others on this discussion board have pointed out, there are no "proper protections" in the legislation. Treasury Secretary Paulson gets a blank check explicitly WITHOUT any Congressional or Court review to do what he wants. He can spend $700 BILLION of our money and will be answerable to no one. That's an incredible amount of power to place in the hands of an unelected official, who, BTW, used to work for Goldman Sachs, so he is definitely a part of the Wall Street "old boys" club that got us into this mess.

Because the proper protections are badly lacking, I would suggest you send an email to your Congresspeople asking them to VOTE NO on this bailout. It will probably take less time for you to do that than it will for you to respond to me.

Do you realize that David Letterman is a left wing wacko and of course is going to spin this story to look bad for McCain? Just as the pictures of Obama with the phone upside down in his hand were photoshopped to make him look bad by the right wing fanatics. Every politician will say whatever people want to hear to get the vote.

And Katie Couric is also a left wing wacko? (and by the way - unlike a comment before - she is NOT on NBC - not for years now) ... come on... the man flat out lied... period... as he has for so long - he wants to be pres so badly to prove his daddy wrong that he is not a f-up - just so badly he will say or do anything .... and why is FLIP FLOPPING not an issue this election - oh because it has happened with McSame not only often.. but within minutes of talking? ... All politicians are B/S .. but this guy ... he plays us all for fools - Sarah Pallin - my G-D ... she was like a dear (moose) in headlights when she almost forgot her talking point answers - watch her face - no idea .. and a heartbeat away .. like I said .. McSame plays us all for fools... and if he gets in ... fools we shall be.... but then again - Bush/Cheney has us all pegged as fools for years now - and we ALL know how well that has/is going!

Won't John McCain be delighted that a consensus has apparently been reached, and the bailout plan (despite what all you and I think and/or want) is pretty much a done deal? Now he can go to the debate!!!

(SARCASM)

Oops, now it looks like I might be wrong and the little skunk will back out anyway. Think he can share Cheney's undisclosed location (or cave or whatever) until the election and thereby avoid saying anything of substance at all? After all, the former Mr. Availability has already been virtually boycotting the press for over a month, and his campaign is trying to do the same for his running mate.....

Hey, I'm not perfect...thanks for being upfront with your shortcomings.And for the rest of you who are wearing your "hater pants" today, McCain is human too. He is under attack by the American public, people like you, the very same people he went to war for many years ago. He loves this country, and he is a parent, a working man, and you will fault him for trying his best to protect his family and trying to understand the disloyalty to this country from people like you. Whether you agree or not, we already voted Congress in. Write them a letter, it is worth it's weight in gold. When 9/11 happened the people of this nation pulled together, we remembered that we are all in it together. America is a great country, we have alot to learn and trusting our government blindly is part of the lesson. The bottom line is to save ourselves from falling out of power. MONEY talks. If we were capable, we would be Sarah Palin, who started in P.T.A. and kept looking for ways to help. I am not even a Republican! If I were bullied by major journalists I would be gun-shy too. Did you send money to New Orleans? Did you feed someone who was hungry, we only look at what's happening in our neighborhoods. Our officials look at the entire nation as their neighborhood. It's a huge responsibility, I sure don't want to be in their shoes. Sure, there are some "greedy Gus'" but they are everywhere! Check out your child's sports or group leaders, embezzlement is what's being uncovered now. What are you doing to make this country better, stronger, or even cleaner?
Please, stop whining and pray for our elected officials, write that letter today, or get off your couch and get into your neighborhood and make sure people are voting. Even YOU can make a difference! Try it, and when you come under scrutiny, remember who you are verbally chewing up and spitting out! What goes around....

Listen, mister, I love this country, too, far too much to "trust our government blindly". But know what? I'm not qualified to be president either. No one says McCain doesn't love his country, but, as has been astutely pointed out, he doesn't get it.

For your information, I already HAVE contacted my congressmen, I contribute money to worthy causes, and my time to child advocacy. But most important of all, I'm a concerned and involved citizen, and when that means following blindly and not expressing honestly-held opinions, then we're in real trouble.

As for Palin being bullied, as an actually great president said, "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

I totally agree. Just because McCain served his country doesn't mean he's ready to be president. I frequently write my congressmen (and woman) about issues I feel are important and I generally get responses stating they appreciate my input. I contribute to many worthy causes, I'm involved in the elections and I vote!

If someone wants to run for political office they need to have the 'cajones' to stand up to the scrutiny because we want to know who the heck we are putting into office.

Might it be that Buffet smells blood. Get in now. Let the govt bail it out and reap the rewards. Don't kid yourself this guy didn't make the money he has by incurring risk. If it was risky Buffet wouldn't be in it. He's just trying to protect his wealth. My 401K is shredded too but I'm not sure making the next generations responsible for all this debt is the way to fix it. If they do nothing for the little guy I say let them rot. Sweeden had a similar crisis. They made the companies write down most of it and took equity for the bail out. This is not the RTC. Don't kid yourself. Debate for as long as necessary to make sure this isn't a giveway is a must. The economy isn't going to collapse in the next couple of weeks.

Since when does the gov buy anything at "Market Price"?

Lawyer John - How do you determine market price if the logic behind this move is that there is no market for these investments?

And could Buffett be investing at this point in time because he's smart and he knows the government will probably be hoodwinked into paying too much? Wouldn't that increase his profits?

Thanks!

so right ... Buffet does NOTHING for free.... he KNOWS that he will make money at the expense of us little folk!I would invest too.. but I left my $5 Billion in my other wallet!

He did not jump in until he knew a government bail out was coming. He wants to get in on the government gravy train. That is the reason he is hoping for a bail out plan to be passed.

Bernanke has made it clear that they have no intention to buy the paper at market price. He has said that if that is done, the financial institutions still have the same liquidity problem. His plan is for it to bought up at a much higher price so that there is now extra money to lend and solve the "frozen" lending problem.

So don't back this $700 BILLION bailout with false hopes that our government will ever be able to resell the debt instruments at a profit.

THE DENVER PAPER SAID THIS MORNING THAT GOLDMAN SACHS WAS ACCUMULATING CASH, AND HAD $5BILLION WHICH INCLUDED THE $5 BILLION THAT WAS GIVEN BY WARREN BUFFET! THAT WAS ACTUALLY WRITTEN BY SOME ASSOCIATED PRESS IDIOT. HOW THESE PEOPLE FIND DRINKING WATER IS BEYOND ME! warren buffet is one of them and no one actually saw the check,so it is so much munusa!

Precisely. What kind of market system do we have if risk is insured by tax payers ? How the hell is it fair to ask those that have their jobs shipped overseas, their homes taken, healthcare and college out of reach, to bail out the Wall St fat cats.

This is fundamentally unchristian and unamerican. The Greedy buggers are destroying this country.

They have already destroyed this country, now they are setting the stage in which the ones at fault will be protected and paid in full. They taxpayers are once again stuck with picking up the bill and cleaning up the mess. Is this system really working for the working class or just the rich?

Will this bill actually re-energize the economy? Maybe for the rich who will inevitably return to their old ways of making money of the HONEST people in this country no matter what harm will come. There is no accountability for the people who started this mess.

This is a transparent bill that will protect CEO's from punishment and accountability. This is the current administrations way of thanking all of the honest people in this country for the honor of the worst 8 years in American history.

Yeh, right give another $700,000,000,000.00 to the rich so they can invest more, in CHINA.

Trickle down does not work, it just facilitates moving jobs out of the country.

You nailed it right on the head!

Congress should read the US Constitution. They obviously never have.

A long time ago, when I was a young girl, my Dad used to say that the US Government didn't run the country -- Wall St. did. How right he was. I'm glad that he is not alive today to see what is happening to the great country that he fought for during WWII.

WORST IDEA EVER.....the people that they are proposing that we "bail out" should have the same misfortune that all of the employees they have inevitably forced out of jobs the last 10 years have had to have:

"How am I going to pay my rent/mortgage next month?"

"How am I going to buy groceries next week?"

Most likely in their positions, they own real estate, ironically that has DEPRECIATED (hopefully significantly) in value due to their own greed and "creative securities" that they will have to sell because they won't have the money to pay the property taxes on their mansions. To hell with them. Cut them all off from all compensation, I don't think that anyone will feel any sorrow towards them. They had better not get any of MY money from ANY type of legislation that comes out of this mess. There's not much that we can do to stop them from turning around and getting high level bureaucratic government jobs (which many do) but at least we can make them sweat for a bit.

EVERYONE CALL YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES AND TELL THEM TO VOTE NO ON ANY TYPE OF TAXPAYER FUNDED "BAILOUT"

Hmmm...perhaps this is why the revision being requested by Republicans has been made- to make the proposal legal. Using private businesses to buy the junk instead of the government. Seems like a no brainer- except to Democrats, who insist on wasting time blaming anyone they can point their finger at that has anything to do the the GOP.

Vote for your Golden Boy, The Messia, and you will be rewarded with this complaining, blaming and doing nothing but talk going on for the next four years.

You're an idiot if you actually can not see that the GOP did this to our country. You will use any excuse to try to blame Dems. Bush and the other Republicans didn't give a crap when homeowners were losing their houses and jobs but now that their friends in wall street have a problem we suddenly have a CRISIS that has to be fixed immediately. Look at any statement about the economy coming from Bush or McCain up until the banking and mortgage companies failings and everything is rosy. They have NO CLUE how people that weren't born with silver spoons are doing and they DON"T CARE! Any plan that the GOP comes up with is suspect because their philosophies and policies have gotten us into this trouble! They have never cared about anyone other than the super rich. So if you aren't rich you're just stupid, ignorant of the facts or plain 'ol racist not to vote for OBAMA!

I agree with you 100%. This is just a bailout for the Fed. They are holding 800 billion of there own toxic debt and they want the US tax payer to foot the bill. We have to all remember that the Fed is a privatly owned institution with 6 US banks and 4 foreign banks. The Fed is not even located in the US. They are in Europe!! So someone please explain why we should so this bailout

Congress should move slowly and deliberately and fund anything they do incrementally so they retain absolute control. They need to take at least a month to determine the full scope of the problem and make sure the bill they pass does exactly what they want it to do.

Paulson and Bernake are not to be trusted, they are in a panic or pushing a scam; either way congress should be spending most of its time talking to other people to get a balanced view of the problem.

This "emergency" took 8 years to develop, and if another month or two to produce a proper solution is too much, the battle is already lost.

Is Paulson going to spend the whole $700,000,000,000.00 in one week?

Dear Fed Up, I agree with you. It's so frustrating to see all this money being poked to the bums who created the mess after deregulating everything. The fundamental problem is deregulation. It would be great if everyone was honest and did the right thing but they are not.

Deregulation = NO Rules NO Consequences. Regulation = Rules and Accountability.

Every last one of them responsible for this mess should be thrown in the Federal Prison. Talk about ABUSE OF POWER! These clowns make Palin look like a saint and I'm definitely no fan of Palin's.

Then the news media and politicians openly admit corruption ie greed has occurred on National TV but still are willing to give them my money. The corruptors need to be tried and sentanced! This is a serious crime of trying to over throw the government. What's wrong with you people?

I agree. Where are we with the world's worse healthcare? Oh, not address again? Well that will keep us at the same level. WE HAVE THE WORSE HEALTHCARE IN THE WORLD!

I could not have said it better. It's like come on now drink the kool aid everyone. People are so afraid of losing their 401k's that they will succumb to any bs that is handed to them.

The first thing that Bush should have done was to apologize to all of us.

It doesn't matter how much we read. They will pass the bailout anyway, no matter what us little people think about it.

I'm not losing my home yet, but it things get any worse in the automobile industry, my husband will no longer have a job and we will lose our home, due to no fault of our own. It is very frustrating watching what they are doing in Washington, without thinking about the little people, just the big businesses.

I totally disagree with this blunder that is about to be made. We as "THE PEOPLE" need to do something besides comment on the net. So, they are just going to give the companies that failed money. NOT!! They will just buy the debt they can't make anything on and leave business as usual. Number 1, the exec's that are running these organizations, should be FIRED and out the door before any money is handed over. If they couldn't do it when times were good, how will they succeed now? You can't keep doing the same ole thing and expect a different result. Let the companies re-write the mortgages, loans, etc. and keep the people in their houses. Money was no higher when they wrote the loan than it is now. If it was ok 5 years ago, it should be ok now. Let it fall, unless they provide all of "THE PEOPLE" that have investments, to pay them back what they have lost due to all the CEO's that will be vacationing in Italy or somewhere. They are just playing with us, and when they tell me there is a bug RUSH to give $700B to one party, BEWARE!! We have been there before. Let them people work for the same dollar that we work for and see how they can manage, save their retirement, and not call on the FEDS everytime something doesn't go their way. I could go on, but you all get the drift. WE NEED TO START ACTING ON OUR WORDS. Do you think the politicians read these blogs. We need to tie up the phone lines like crazy for the next few days so they really know how we feel.

Everything that is going on at this time is political GRANDSTANDING. Cant say that I am in favor of the 700 billion pkg. But if the market crashes and we all loose it all we will have our esteemed elected officials to thank. Just for once I would like them to put politics aside and take care of the people who elected them not the people who donated the most to their campaigns.

And let's not forget who the major players are in the bailout negotiations:

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn, Chair, Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs: $13,163,356
(tried to bail out Countrywide Bank, from whom he received very favorable mortgage rates)

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, Member, Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs: $12,793,446
(Proposed a federal government bailout of subprime borrowers)

Barney Frank, D-Mass, Chair, House Financial Services Committee: $2,430,361
(Voted against legislation in 2003 that would have placed the U.S. Treasury Dept. in an oversight position over Fanny and Freddie)

Paul Kanjorski, D-PA, second most ranking member of the Committee: $2,718,472

The foregoing individuals have received donations in the amounts shown from PAC's and individual employees of the financial services industries, including finance, insurance, and real estate companies. Money like that buys you a lot of influence!

Thanks for the information Eddo. I'm defintely not a republican, but to me the Republicans seem to be the ones keeping this farce from being passed. The dems and Reps have their own pet projects that they want to funnel the money to, no doubt, but to just give away $70B in a week, particularly when it's not your money, is just callous and irresponisble. These things take time and should be slow and deliberate. No more shotgun decisions.

Maybe I am wrong, but my perception of the democrats in this instance is to be scared of big bad Bush, particularly when he goes on TV and starts pleading like it's a Jerry Lewis telethon.

I just want to know what language were going to need to learn to speak so I can get a jump on it. Chinese, Russian, Arabic????

As a small business owner, times are tough, we can't look to anyone bailing us out, we will do it on our own. When we bail out big businesses, it takes away from the small businesses. What will happen when you have a few rich rich people who do not support small businesses, people like you and I will close our business. You can't run down to the corner grocer, oops he's not there anymore, can't afford to drive to the big chain store, can't afford to heat or cool your home. Mainstreet America will no longer exist, tourism will be way down because no one will be able to pay gas prices for autos or plane fares, and to pay the baggage fee. Everyone in America will be slaves of the rich who get richer on our sweat and tears. So sad, please contact your congressperson and senator and tell them no bail out for the rich!!!!

You might want to look further than your own front door. all of these policies were put in place starting in the 80' and pushed by the Democratic party. I say lets go back to before the NEW DEAL and let the States govern their own people. I am tired of supporting the lazy class of people with no common sense or knowledge of history.

You really don't know your current history. Deregulation was not the Democrats platform, it was the Republicans, starting with Nixon and it took a leap forward under Reagan. Bush I and Bush II refined took it further. You are the one lacking knowledge of current history. Read a few books instead of listen to Rush Limbaugh and company.

WHERE IS THE GOVERNMENT GOING TO GET THIS HYPOTHETICAL MONEY FOR THE $700 BILLION? WELL THAT WOULD BE FROM "MR.PAULSON" OVER AT THE FEDERAL RESERVE! GUESS WHAT, HE FIRES UP THE PERVERBIAL PRESSES AND CREATES IT OUT OF NOTHING,AND CHARGES YOU INTEREST ON IT ALSO! DOES THE TERM "PONZI SCHEME" RING ANY BELLS FOR YOU?

You must not be worried about your job, 401K, your savings, your bank failing or the very real possibility of a DEPRESSION! By the way, it took WWII to finally get us out of the depression.

I agree, and BTW; did you know the "Federal Reserve" is no more "Federal" than Federal Express! It's the central bank with no more ties to the government that we have. So I say... screw them and screw Wall Street! Let them take a hit just like the rest of us with our ever depleting bottom lines.

Don G

Economists have always said that recession is a natural and healthy part of the economical cycle. Part of the problem is that the government and "Powers that Be" are afraid to let it happen. They keep rescuing and bailing out failing companies. You know what that means? While things may look healthy on the outside, it is rotting and falling apart inside. That means the "Depression" will just be postponed and dropped on our children and grandchildren-- and it will be worse than what we're afraid of now.

Where are they going to get that $700 billion? They talk non-stop about the deficit and needing to balance the budget. Now they want to dump money into Wall Street? Where is that coming from?

And read parts of the proposal:
"The Secretary may, at any time, upon terms and conditions and at prices determined BY THE SECRETARY, sell, or enter into securities loans, repurchase transactions or other financial transactions in regard to, any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act."

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are NON-REVIEWABLE and committed to agency discretion, and MAY NOT BE REVIEWED by any court of law or any administrative agency."

This is about more than "rescuing" the economy. This is about pumping more and MORE and M O R E power into the hands of the government.

We cannot be like those who were afraid to fight in the Revolutionary Wars. They wanted "peace in our time." Sure, I'd like economic stability in my time... but I'd rather have hard times now, and let things be peaceful and prosperous in the times of my children and grandchildren.

We MUST call and write the offices of our Congressman. We are the citizens of this country. We DO NOT have to stand idle and let these people wreck havoc on our futures!!!!

Wayne, I do agree with you, but remember, we did not elect GW in 2000. Gore won the majority of the popular vote and only intervention by the supreme court allowed the election to go to Bush. I'm also not convinced he won the 2004 election either. There were too many unanswered questions about Ohio for my comfort. There's a documentary out called "Hacking Democracy." I strongly recommend everyone rent the DVD and watch it, especially after the news story yesterday concerning Florida's latest vote counting problems.

StormAZ100
When Bush was elected in 2004, I cried. No exaggeration, I did. I could not believe the American people actually reelected that clown. Gives me confidence in my fellow Americans to find that that was not the case. Just manipulation of the system.

But to the subject at hand, there should be no bail out. Believe Paulson and Bush. PLEASE! The Bush administration has done nothing but lie to the American people since he came into office. Not to mention, we are already in such great debt thanks to the never ending Iraq war. Which by the way, the Iraqi-ans now have over 80 billion in profits from their oil fields but still take our 10 billion a month. Nice, huh? And now we are being asked to hand over 700 billion. For what? To reward Bush's financial backers? And from what I am hearing and reading, Congress is actually going to do it! Somebody just shoot me please! And the folks that think this bailout should go through: How do you think this is going to be paid back? The Bailout Fairy is going to waive her magic wand and it will all go away? NO. No matter what McCain and Obama say publicly taxes will have to rise to pay for all this.

Bush was not elected he was selected--The country voted for Gore.

This is a mess and I hope everyone writing these comments copy and paste it to their reps. This is not a democracy, no one is calling to ask the real people how they feel about this.

I know my vote/opinion doesn't count in Wyoming, like the president they are going to do what they want not what the people want!

Anybody calling the family down the street that lives off of $30,000 a year?

We either have to deal with the current fact that in our country unless we have lots of money by our name we don't count or we have to stand up for our rights and the rights of our children and do something about it--blogging isn't goint to cut it

And I suppose you will jump for joy if Obama wins?! I wouldn't let that man lead my dog down the street, much less my country!!!

lead foot momma, I understand how you feel. My entire family, each and every member, voted for Bush in 00 and again in 04 and still to this day think that he does, indeed, have a direct line to God, and that he should be elected again in 08 because he is the best President ever, and a great Christian.

My family says I am going to hell for not supporting Bush, a fine fine upstanding Christian.

My family IS America. Nuff said.

Well, said AK12007 -- My dogs are safer leading themselves down a busy four lane freeway, than this wild card that is Obama leading this country for the next four years.

None of you Obama supporters seem to want to touch on the subject that if elected into office that this so called "bail out" and the money the government is going to gain by this will go directly to supporting Obama's social reform programs. How nice for him. No wonder he is a supporter!

The real issue here is that yes, we need a solution to this crisis, but no we don't need the one outlined by this bail-out. De-regulation is the problem. All the de-regulation that has been happening in the US and globally since the 70s has gotten us to this place of economic crisis & the proposed solution calls for making taxpayers pay for the consequences of those policies?? That is completely ridiculous-- if de-regulation has caused this problem, how can it be the solution?? It can't-- Using taxpayer money to bail out the financial institutions that enthusiastically support such policies and the bad-lending practices that keep de-regulation going does nothing to stop the problem.

In other words, it's a band-aid solution that only postpones the impending global economic depression. We need to stop making short-term economic decisions and just crossing our fingers that everything will 'get better' in the long-term, because it won't without true policy change. Some people on here are worried that if we don't take this desperation measure, we will all lose our savings, our jobs & our homes (if we haven't already), but the problem with that assumption is that it overlooks how this package will make those losses a 100% guarantee.

The time has passed for quick fix measures--anyone noticed the value of the dollar recently?? That's why there is a loss of confidence in our financial institutions, it's not because, as Bush claimed last night that 'the market is not functioning properly'. In fact, the market is functioning exactly as neoclassical economic theory predicts it will once government intervention is reduced to nil. . .Check out Naomi Klein's new article on Huffington Post for more specifics of why this is the case.

In conclusion, we don't have to be Wall Street's & Washington's puppets on a string any longer. If we continue to believe that they have our best in interests in mind when they make policies, we will stay puppets forever. Demand real change in economic policy. Email, Call & Write your member of Congress!!!! Once the next president is in office, it will already be too late to turn back. . .

It took you that long to realize Bush was no good?? Blindly supporting him???

Didn't alot of the problems today start with Clinton?

Megan23462: It certainly did. Here's a couple of paragraphs about it.

"An agreement between the Clinton administration and congressional Republicans, reached during all-night negotiations which concluded in the early hours of October 22, (1999) sets the stage for passage of the most sweeping banking deregulation bill in American history, lifting virtually all restraints on the operation of the giant monopolies which dominate the financial system."

"The Clinton White House threatened to veto the bill if CRA provisions were substantially weakened, in response to heavy pressure from the Congressional Black Caucus and the Reverend Jesse Jackson, whose Operation PUSH has made extensive use of CRA in its campaigns to pressure corporations and banks for more opportunities for black businessmen. But eventually the White House caved in to Gramm, accepting his amendments so long as the program remained formally in place."

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) provided a means for the government to insure mortgage loans made to low-income people.

And so, Eddo, are you saying that all of Phil Gramm's deregulations contained in Gramm-Leach-Bliley had nothing to do with it?

I managed a bank myself and I never received any perks like this, it is unbelievable...and what else is unbelievable is that "we the people" really don't have a choice in the matter, since they are all negotiating on Capital Hill without us.

How true....negotiating without us, "WE THE PEOPLE". Did they forget that we run the country and that they WORK FOR US???? Why should we have to accept this decison without a vote? Isn't this a democracy??? Someone should remind Bush and congress of that!!!

At one point in our history, JO-ANN, this might have been true. However, it CERTAINLY hasn't been true for the past eight years and, if the McCain supporters have their way, will remain untrue for the next four.

Throwing money at ANY problem does not solve the problem, We The People did not create this problem and I have a problem bailing out scammers, cheaters, liars, especially those making bank on the root of the problem.