Look on the bright side: at least we now know what it takes for the GOP to stand up to Bush. I can't remember the last time it happened. But then, I've been drinking hard for a week.

Oh well. The ball is in Bush's court now.

Actually, I think the ball is in the global market traders' court right now, unless Bush wants to step in and grab it (which I don't think he will do in a hurry).

Specifically, the ball is in China's court. There's a big blame game going on in Beijing right now, with critics saying they over-spent on US investments and should dump the whole lot asap. If they do, a bunch more US stocks will go through the floor, and this won't be just a financial industry crisis any more. It will affect all kinds of companies.

I guess the GOPers who voted against this will think they can go home and proudly tell their constituencies what they did. But that might not look so clever if the markets tank. OTOH, if the markets hold, people will remember Pelosi and Reid's big photo op with Paulson yesterday. But then, McCrazy also voted for. AP (link at sig) notes:

Ample no votes came from both the Democratic and Republican sides of the aisle. More than two-thirds of Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats opposed the bill.

Worth noting too that stocks were going down even while Congress was debating, so there wasn't a heap of confidence in this package anyway and maybe Congress saw that happening while they voted (there were more yeas at the start).

Lawmakers shouted news of the plummeting Dow Jones average as lawmakers crowded on the House floor during the drawn-out and tense call of the roll, which dragged on for roughly 40 minutes as leaders on both sides scrambled to corral enough of their rank-and-file members to support the deeply unpopular measure.

They found only two.

I saw one economist put the required bailout number at closer to $5 trillion, not $700 billion. So sit down, buckle up, and hold on tight.

Me, I gave up the popcorn a week or two ago. Beer and whiskey suit the esprit du temps so much better.

PS: Alberto Gonzales must be delighted that this is taking all the media coverage off that other farce he's starring in right now.

Oh--has anyone been fired,indicted or arrested across the reaches of Wall Street or in the ranks of regulatory bodies as of yet? You know--fail at the job--get fired--perform in crooked or clearly criminal ways--get arrested? Is this type of outcome too alien anymore?

No? Now why is this so?

Because Bush personally signed off on everything, from massive over-spending to irresponsible budgets to increasing the national debt level time and again to hopeless wars to torture and phone-tapping.

How does he sack anyone when he appointed them and told them what to do and when to do it and gave the nod with his stupid grin and said "heckuva job"?

Remember when Cheney said "Deficits dont matter"? The Treasury Sec who argued with him got fired a month later. That was 2002! So it goes...

Personally, I think a little old fashioned Accountability would go a long way towards calming the markets. But maybe we are past that point? Maybe the voters need to hold people accountable on Nov 2nd (they missed their chance 4 years ago).

And um, the buck stops... where?

It occurs to me that there are several conflicting narratives which determine how people perceive and discuss this "crisis" (aka "opportunity"). It's easy to get sucked into one of these narratives, and Glenn (as always) does a good job of standing back and communicating a sense of perspective.

1. The Wall Street Narrative looks at all this from a purely financial point of view. Stocks must always go up. Pour more money into the machine and make the stocks go up again or we will all die.

2. The Washington Political Narrative is now fracturing into two sub-narratives. One is focussed 100% on the election, and everything but everything is perceived in Obama-McMelanoma Nov 2 terms. The other is the same old "Who's Your Daddy?" we-know-best lobbyist power game that rules the closed door sessions. Every crisis - even this one - is an opportunity for more money and more power.

3. The Global Narrative is best captured by thinking about Munch's painting "The Scream". We foreigners continue to watch quietly as Bush destroys the USA. We hope it won't affect us, but that's looking increasingly unlikely.

Of course, all these narratives are fuelled by self-interest.

But what about the humble US taxpayer? What's YOUR narrative? You don't seem to have one.

You get absorbed into media narratives about stocks and politics, and your perceived self-interest is co-opted into supporting those agendas.

If y'all want a bit of cheering up, I recommend this Reuters article by Jason Szep (link at sig):

Mocked by comedians, derided by prominent conservatives and reeling from flustered interviews with national media, Sarah Palin is proving a risky gamble in Republican John McCain's quest for the White House.

"Palin is Ready? Please" a headline in Newsweek said this week of the moose-hunting Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, capping a turbulent week in which Palin's fitness for the job came under growing scrutiny.

"Sarah Palin is utterly unqualified to be vice president," Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria wrote.

"She is a feisty, charismatic politician who has done some good things in Alaska. But she has never spent a day thinking about any important national or international issue, and this is a hell of a time to start," he said.

Apparently the last part of that Couric interview is going out tonight.

Despite all the talk about Palin voluntarily pulling out, we all know she wont: because the GOP is never, ever, wrong about anything. Admitting mistakes is a sign of weakness!