What do you think of the government bailout?

I personally think it is wrong, these big companies made this mess they should be held accountable to fix it. Get rid of all the high salries and bonus's floating around, check finances. The government did not bail out all of the people who lost their homes due to not being able to afford the mortgages, and these are the same people who gave them the mortgage in the first place. What is wrong with this picture.

There may be a few problems with the proposed taxpayer bailout of the equity markets.

Aside from the immorality of rewarding already rich Wall Street weasels for their malfeasance in bringing the economy to ruin, the prospect of a taxpayer bailout only postpones the problem, and saddles the next administration with a huge debt and the prospect of continuing to prop up a fragile economy led by insolvent financial services giants.

If the intent of the bailout is to restore investor confidence in the market, as stated by the Secretary of the Treasury, then it has already failed. Investors are evacuating from the market like from a burning building, and are not likely to return soon. After the current debacle, the equity markets will not likely recover for many years if ever.

Indeed, the equity markets may never return to past levels, because the bailout sets a precedent of government intervention in equity markets that completely changes the economic principles of the markets. The precedent shifts risk from investors to taxpayers. Once that precedent is established, who knows what new investment dynamics will apply? Marx and Lenin would be saying “I told you so.”

The gutless Congress, with an eye on elections in a few weeks, will bluster and posture for the cameras, but will eventually roll over and agree to the bailout to avoid blame for the eventual and unavoidable economic crash.

A hasty bailout extends the legacy and flawed philosophies of the current presidency into the next administration. The needless rescue inflates the federal deficit to the point that the incoming administration will have very little opportunity to make significant change. The additional 700 billion will be borrowed from mostly foreign sources at unavoidably higher interest rates. The huge deficit and interest payments will cause the value of the dollar to further decline, thus increasing inflation as the cost of oil and other imports increases in lock step.

In the Senate hearings yesterday, the spokesmen for the Executive branch reminded me of snake oil salesmen, whose basic pitch was “give us the money, or bad things will happen”. They have a concept. They have no plan, no strategy, no tactics, and few specific actions they are willing to share in public. They offered only vague ideas of how the bailout funds would be spent. The administration has already authorized $300 Billion for the bailouts of Wall Street investment bankers and AIG. Now the request is for another $700 Billion, with no end in sight. Put in perspective, the cost of the six year Iraq war is $560 Billion.

This vague approach is not surprising, since this administration generally has a shoot-from-the-hip approach to major issues. They just seem to careen from disaster to catastrophe without learning that preparation, planning, and follow up are necessary for any major activity.

Remember some of the high points of this presidency:
“We know where the weapons of mass destruction are located.”
“The war will pay for itself.”
“Mission Accomplished”
“Good Job Brownie.”
“The Economy is strong (last month)”

We, the taxpayers, are in for tough times ahead, regardless of what the economic “experts” predict. The bailout does not fix Wall Street. It will only slow down the probable crash past the next election. At best, we can hope for a long and deep recession with a lot of belt-tightening all around.

We should just take our lumps now and let the markets sort things out. Congress should not saddle taxpayers with a huge additional debt. Let the incompetent and greedy financial companies fail. Let those responsible for bad loans fail, both lenders and borrowers. Let the Congress establish adequate regulation in the wake of the wreck. Wall Street and Main Street will survive, and will go on, poorer and wiser, but ready to rebuild.

Thankfully, there is an election soon, which affords the only glimmer of optimism in the shambles that the current bunch of incompetents has left us.

This bailout is 100% wrong. If we are going to spend this much money lets take a new approach to the problem. They say it is going to cost each family about $10,000 to pay for this mess.

Why not give each family in america the $10,000? Think how much good that would do for each family. Think about all the money that would flood into the economy. Get this done before Christmas and think about the money that would be spent! Sounds like a great idea! NO BAILOUT for Wall Street!!

I agree no bailout for Wall Street. I also wonder what Bush must be thinking as he goes down as the worse President in American History. All his lies and deceit along the way has cost this country our respect and has plunged us into one of the most devestating economic downfalls. What average American can afford the 10 grand that this is going to cost us? Personally I think he should just right a check out of his own bank account. He got us into this mess. Get us out but not at my expense! Shame on him for putting this on us.

First it was saber rattling with "Weapons of Mass Destruction" now it's "Financial Destruction of the Masses". David Letterman got it right "this smells". The timing of the announcement of this financial crisis; the grandstanding of McCain as he rides off to handle it; and, his recent slide in the polls makes it smell even more. Desperate acts manufactured by a desperate republican party so they can be portrayed as saviors? Perhaps. Their only solution is a taxpayer bailout? How about a windfall profit tax from the oil companies? That should cover it easily.

BUSH AND MCCAIN ARE BLACKMAILING AMERICA WITH ECONOMIC TERRORISM!!!

The Federal Reserve is neither Federal nor a Reserve. Owned by a corrupt group of International Bankers, it is a privately owned monopoly, largely responsible for creating America's National Debt. It is also a parasitic and unnecessary entity that literally creates American currency out of nothing and then collects interest on the backs of taxpayers for doing so.

We MUST reject the Paulson/Bernanke plan for bailing out and propping up reckless banks at taxpayer expense. This is madness to ask us, the taxpayers, to cover the liabilities of Wall Street. We are tired of being fleeced.

STOP giving away any more of our money to failed businessmen!

This crisis is a result of mistakes made by three groups of people: private individuals who took out subprime mortgages that they couldn’t pay for; private institutions who gave loans to people who couldn’t afford them; and the federal government, lead by the Democratic congress, for demanding a relaxation of lending standards for the chief end of getting everybody into a house no matter their financial situation. The Paulson plan says it’s Wall Street’s fault and it’s the government’s fault, completely ignoring the politically inconvenient fact that private individuals made stupid decisions to get into a house when they couldn’t afford to. Therefore, after this little “fix” is over, we’re headed straight for this crisis again as we continually tell folks, “Don’t worry, it wasn’t your fault.”

Once again the middle class taxpayer who pays his taxes and lives within his means is expected to bail out the wealthy institutions, the foolish individuals who attempted to live beyond their means and the Democratic congress who encouraged them to do just that.

CALL YOUR REPS...NO BAIL OUT..DON'T BLAME CLINTON..HE MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR PEOPLE TO GET MORTGAGES..BLAME THE COMPANIES THAT TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE CHANGE AND GOT THEMSELVES IN THIS MESS..BLAME BUSH FOR NOT PAYING ATTENTION FOR THE LAST 8 YEARS AND ALLOWING THIS TO GET WAY OUT OF CONTROL..BLAME THE GREEDY RICH EXCECUTIVES THAT RIP THE TAX PAYER OFF ON A REGULAR BASIS..BLAME THE LIERS AND CHEATERS THAT START FROM THE TOP..NOT FROM THE BOTTOM..BIG MISTAKES START FROM THE TOP AND THEY SHOULD PAY..PUT ONE OF THOSE CROOKS IN A REAL FED. PRISON AND SEE HOW LONG HE LASTS..LOW LIFE BUMS...I SAW BUSHES SPEECH AND I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT HE SMILED AT THE END..WHAT IS THERE TO SMILE ABOUT....NO BAIL OUT

Absolutely and without question this is the next biggest fraud presented by the Bush Administration short of "WMD" Bush said that Iraq had over six years ealier . The American working class will not benefit from this. Questions that you will have to ask yourself is that how can raising your taxes to pay for this bailout help property values, increase your disposable income, create new GOOD PAYING JOBS, bring manufacturing back into the Unites States, etc.

Take about scams, you can see it in Bush's eyes that he is trying to pull another one. Even Professor in Economics a Harvard University are not convinced.