And What Do YOU Think?

The underlying issues that developed this crisis are being ignored by both the media and the politicians. First and foremost, is gas being $369.9 per gallon. Add to that the amount of jobs lost by Americans due to Company greed. Thank Bill Clinton for NAFTA. Have any of you noticed that everything we buy has Made in China embossed on it? Even our beef, chicken and pork come from outside the country. Americans have been so engrossed in wanting and competing and having that we all lost sight of the ball. It is not the 10% of mortgages failing that brought this country to its knees. It is a combination of many factors. We don't need a 451 page bill spending 700 Billion dollars enacted by a congress that recieved TRILLIONS from the same companies it is attempting to bail out. We need to realize what is at stake, here. There are no jobs anymore. That is the core issue. I live in rural upstate New York and had to practically beg for a $9.00 an hour job. Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer signed a tax relief program for local businesses to keep jobs here and what happened? A year later, one of the companies that received millions of dollars in relief shut down their third shift and plan on "relocating" the plant to Mexico. Hard working Americans are struggling to stay afloat in this country. There are families becoming homeless because they cannot afford to heat their homes, drive to work, feed their families and pay their taxes. Let's look at the real problems in this country and not play the blame game. Please hold this government accountable for it's greed and politics. Vote them all OUT and let's start over!

Liz why is it so far fetch for the tax payers to get the bail out. We are the ones without jobs and can not pay our mortgages and car payments. We are the ones that can not afford gas and in a few months oil to heat with. We are the ones that are paying outragous prices at the grocery store. We are also the ones that the Gov. is taking money from to give to big buisness. We are the ones suffering. Even after this bail out there will be no jobs added, prices for food and gas will not go down, and people will still be loosing thier homes. Give each tax payer a bail out and watch the markets and banking system sore to new hights.

Let me see if I get this right. A person robs me of, say, $2,000. I want to go after him and have him arrested. Instead, some "mediator" decides he/she knows what's best, and decides to allow the perp to bring up a plan to "rescue" said ill-gotten booty...with the stipulation that it will require yet ANOTHER $2,000 to secure the original amount. Hmmmm, $4,000 outlay to secure $2,000...with no guarantees at that, sounds like pure unadulterated socialism undertones within, and if we don't support it, it's WE who just don't "get it". What??? Ok, I know it's simplistic and abstract, but hey...that is the impression the supporters are leaving us with. As a distinguished tv judge once said: "Don't p(urinate)e on my leg and tell me it's raining!" God help us all!

I believe that Congress will now pass this bill since now everyone got their PORK added to pay back all the lobbyists, raising the price to us by $150B. Seriously???? Wooden arrows for children???

to continue. . . . It really seems that no one is really serious about this bill OR the economy. I knew virtually nothing about the stock market, CDS, CDO, etc., and none of it sounds legal! How did this happen? I think we are looking at 10-15 years of horrible recession except for the big corporations if McCain has his way. He is railing against lobbyists and pork, how can he vote for this mockery?

This isn't a bailout of America. It's a bailout of the World. Has anyone read the article from Telegraph newspaper in the UK? It looks like things are even worse in Europe. Read this article. Financial Crisis: So much for tirades against American greed Ambrose Evans-Pritchard says it is ironic that European banks have turned out to be deeper in debt than their US counterparts.

Dear Liz: It must be clear to you at this point, that Main Steet is all done with Wall Street. They are all done with the congress also, as these two codependents have caused this credit crunch. The market will shudder, fortunes will be lost and made, and market forces will restart the economy. It is 1929 all over again, greed does it AGAIN.

The mark-to-market rule is not the problem creator, the problem creator was the 27-1 leverage the investment houses used in the creation of the mortgage backed securities. The MTM was the device that blew the whistle on one of the greatest financial crimes of human history. To aid the innocent, MTM may have to be temporarily suspended but it should not be done without first reinstating Glass-Steigman which forbids the creation of these suspect instruments. The present bill does not reinstate Glass-Steigman therefore I am against it. I would not support bailing out the widows and orphans fund without first going after the criminals who put the fund in jeopardy. Further, I believe that if a crime of profit can be commited it will be commited. It seems quite possible and therefore probable that an investment house could create a large number of the mortgage bonds, sell what they can, and keep the rest on their own books by roundabout means, or two criminal houses could sell to each other. They are booked as assets which could then be used to obtain loans from greedy and trusting banks(the big victims). A hundred dollars worth of mortgage could be first turned into $2700 dollars worth of bonds which are used to obtain $10,000 dollars worth of loans. Ponzi. The bankrupt houses are probably innocent but I wouldn't bet on that. Could you imagine what the Lone Ranger thinks?

Liz, I've been following this daily since spring, and here is what I am wondering...Where are the platoons of agents from the Security Exchange Commission/Internal Revenue Service/Federal Bureau of Investigation who will descend upon all of these failed businesses (Bear Stearns/WaMu/FNMA-FRMC, etc)? Why are not warrants of search and seizure and warants of arrest being slapped on the current and former CEOs/CFOs/other senior executives responsible for this mess? Why are the shareholders of all of these companies not storming the halls of these companies demanding to know what the HELL is going on? Why are there not daily "perp walks" for all of those responsible, and why are their assets/property/"golden parachutes" not being seized to help pay for the chaos we are in? I am not an advocate of TAXING the rich, but I do believe they need to be HELD LIABLE for the all-too-far-reaching financial calamity they helped to create!

Washington is broken pure and simple. Both party politicians don't see the problems of DC like WE THE PEOPLE DO..when an entity is broken it needs to be fixed. In DC's case a major clearing house of old broken ideas that don't work needs to be flooded out. Lack of leadership in both parties have brought this country to its present empass. But the Democrats should feel the wrath of the people,new fresh minded people need to be elected. Thuse who understand the present problems and look forward. Not those who sound like a broken record on the campaign trails. That's all. Good news: the web video of the '04 hearing over Freddie and Frannie Mae is circulating across the waves of cyberspace. Truth has a way of shaking things out and those who lied and lied for them will pay..I trust Yoda on this one. Time for the force.

We have to back up to the root cause: Our government has no limits on how much money it can print or otherwise create out of thin air electronically, and on paper, through debits and credits, ever since Richard Nixon took us off the Gold Standard that required a percentage of gold behind every dollar created. We need to plan to go back on the gold standard to shore up the dollar, reduce inflation, and reduce wreckless credit. This should be a primary goal to become effective at some specified and apropriate time in the future when the economy and markets settle down, and people have the opportotunity to prepare for it.

I'm against the plan. I believe Congress will screw up the situation much worse than it already is. Congress working with Wall Street created the mess, along with a spoiled American public. Let's feel some pain now for a better tomorrow. The Free Market will sort out the winners from the losers.

Passage of this rescue bill will permanently tattoo "No Confidence. No Confidence. No Confidence." on Wall St. traded business. Considering the truly viable alternatives this plan has to be the most inane financial tactic of the past 2 centuries. Is the Senate thinking we're unable to comprehend that they are a completely different den of thieves? Perhaps this thought is true, for I'm certain that unlike the common grifters clogging up the House of Representatives, the Senate will fully ensure that our tax dollars disappear into crony pockets via completely untraceable avenues. The moment the Senate passes this bill is the same moment every member of my family moves our investment dollars outside of Wall St.

There is a perception that big business, big banks and Wall Street are responsible for this mess and they should pay. If that were entirely true, I would agree. The problem I have with that scenario, is that it is the bad assets due to mortgage defauts by ordinary taxpayers that is the root cause of the problem, regardless of what may have been done with the loans after they were made. Ordinary taxpayers bought more housing than they could afford period. Defaults put more homes on the market driving down home values. The value of bank assets decline due to both. The less assets a bank has, the less money they can loan, the less they can loan, the less mortgage money is available. The less mortgage money available, the less homes can be bought. It is a downward spiral. Making things worse, is the mark to market rule (revised yesterday) which means that institutions had to value assets at market value. In a fire sale market, assets disappear quickly. So money flow locks up. The economy runs on credit. Most businesses have some form of revolving credit. If money is not available to borrow, businesses shut down and their jobs along with them. Particularly vulnerable are small businesses that may need float to just to cover weekly payroll or pay bills. If bad assets are removed from bank balance sheets, then banks can start loaning money again. That's what I think the bailout does. The ordinary taxpayer is already paying for this mess. Anybody with home equity, a 401K, an IRA or a brokerage account has already lost a lot of money. If credit doesn't free up, it will get a lot worse. Unemployment will spiral out of control. Every taxpayer will be effected.

I am absolutely AGAINST this bailout. It is simply a welfare check for the rich. This is supposed to be a "free-market" society, which implies an element of risk. We have become enamored with unsupportable rates of return, sold with the tag-line "guaranteed---no risk". Well, guess what? The there really is RISK. Life is a RISK. Getting up in the morning is a RISK; you might slip on the bathroom floor and become disabled. Bending over to pickup the morning paper on your doorstep, and you might hurt your back. Putting money into the markets might increase your wealth, but there is also a RISK that it will decrease your wealth. Deal with it. Get over it, and move on.

I understand that some businesses and individuals will be hurt if they can't get credit but it is time to make a stand and say no to this rescue(bailout) bill. The government started this mess with the CRA, lowering interest rates to try and avoid resessions, which are necessary, and their out of control spending. Now we expect them to save us from this mess. If this bill is passed, the markets will like this for a while but down the road, we will pay for this with inflation. Give me a deep resession any day instead of out of control inflation. Also, the govt. needs to let the housing prices go down to where they should be. Here is an example of a house I used to own and what has happened to the price. 1993: Bought for 116K, 3 bedroom, less then 2000 sq feet, 12 year old house on 1/4 acre lot. 1999: We sold for 122K 2003: Sold for 195K 2005: Sold for 384K Now: Bank owns it and trying to sell it for 195K. It is only worth 130K. That whole subdivision is now foreclosure city.

I would be more inclined to go along with this "bailout" bill if Congress would repeal the Community Redevelopment Act first. Of course, then we would all be accused of being racists.

The fact that no one is addressing is, many of this sub prime and alt-A loans will never be profitable, these loans (almost 50% of them according to the NY Fed's web site) were cash out loans at housing prices were in a bubble much like the tech bubble of the 1990's. Those stock prices going by the NASDQ are still down 50%. The treasury dept wants to shift mortgage loses to the taxpayer at an inflated price with the presumption housing prices will rise. If Japan is any guide they wont. With consumer debt 2 trillions dollars above personal income who are they going to lend to, the same people that just defaulted? Glenn Forest Hills, NY

This "rescue" plan has not been adequately explained to the public. When the US government buys all these toxic mortgages, the all-important price for its purchases has not been mentioned. If price is a variable, subject to negotiation, then who is the negotiator? The public cannot trust a man like Hank Paulson of Goldman Sachs to represent them. It's like a setup to use taxpayer money to bail out his Wall Street brethren. He is not a disinterested party in this fiasco! Why not appoint Warren Buffett (or someone else with no Wall Street connection) who knows how to negotiate, do that job? Thomas Papazoglou

Let the free market make whatever corrections it needs to. That's the way the market works! Why when an average American goes to the bank for a loan and offers an asset that the bank finds unaccpetable (toxic asset), the bank tells them to go pound sand... Now the financial industry is coming to the American Taxpayer's with very "toxic assets" that their own greed created, and the Taxpayers are supposed to "over look" the fact that the security they are offering is completely unacceptable. Tell them their loan/bailout is denied until they have acceptable security. The rules and guidelines the banking industry uses to evaulate us should be the same when the roles are reversed! This bailout will only set the stage for the next crisis/bailout. Maybe Wall Street should face the music and learn a lesson!

I am in favor of congress doing "something", our businesses need support NOW. The root of our problem is TRUST...we have lost it in our congress and our financial market. But, like an egg, you don't repair a broken egg. It has to be "rebuilt". That will take time and approving this action is a good step. Both the private sector and government must continue working on this until we have implemented many of the great things suggested above.

Liz, this bailout is the leading wedge of socialism in the US. It is ironic that socialist European governments are going more capitalistic, communistic countries are becoming more capitalistic, but that the US is becoming socialistic. We have not learned from the failures of socialism. People today want an immediate cure and cannot tolerate the necessary pain to save our economic system.

We absolutely must have this bill passed to continue the flow. Wouldn't it be nice if our elected officials devoted as much effort to better informing constuents of true impact of this legislation as they do soliciting contributions in support of their reelection? ---David---North Carolina.

I am firmly against the bailout. A free market must be free and allowed to correct itself. People and businesses must be accountable for their actions. Small businesses must be run better. If we are not allowed to fail, then our system is no better that pseudo-democratic socialist state. Good by capitalism!

I was hoping that by being the first poster and pointing out that buying something doesn't affect your balance sheet - you give up an asset (cash)and you get an asset - that people wouldn't post such absurdities as "this is a lot of money to add to our deficit" and "the consequences of this much debt is scary". This kind of stuff is all over the web, too. Sad.