For sure, this bailout is NOT about doing the right thing. It is about saving the company. The mortgagees are important only in their ability to keep sending Countrywide money every month. Clearly, the reporter points this out in all of the extra "help" Country wide offers him as they try to keep cash flowing. What bothers me most about all this sub-prime talk is how we are focused on the symptom, not the disease. Sub-prime by definition tells us a lot of things.

First, sub-prime means the mortgage holders cannot meet traditional standards for a number of reasons: no savings or poor or spotty credit history. Creative mortgages are devised to give these people a chance at a home. It's like giving crack to an addict. They aren't going to handle it responsibly. History says so, and as for the low to no savings, well, that is a problem unto itself.

Second, sub-prime is like going to the casino and expecting a big payday, only to find out the house wins most of the time. In the case of sub-prime lending, no one really wins other than the person coming in to mop up the mess and buying at auction. You can be sure lots of sub-prime mortgage holders never intended to hold the home. They intended to sell it and turn a profit and start over.

This mess also speaks to the over priced cost of a home today. Easy money inflated builders abilities to raise the price and for existing homes to sell at a premium. Again, just another happy trip to the casino for all on the bus, but now everyone involved rides home with little or no cash.

There is a cultural norm in America of entitlement and corporate greed. This is the fruits of our ill conceived labor.

Sure, I loved him as a teen in the early 70's...or was that the late 60's?! Having listened intently both then and now, I will say that while originality and a leading edge on the music scene was most evident in those early years, his playing, arranging and execution today are far superior.

Watch the DVD One More Rider, One More Car (I think that's the name of it). Clapton is surrounded by musical greats for what he described as his last world tour. There is serious musicianship and mastery of song. It isn't always about the past.

think about his and all the arguments that abound about misinformation. Does anyone, for a second, really believe that the network of intelligence could have been led astray this easily? The answer is no. It could not/can not.

The war and future expansion is not about oil per se, but the proximity to oil. A long time ago, before 911, I believe Mr. Bush can be quoted as saying that the standard of living and our means of production and lifestyle will not be interrupted by scarcity of oil.

Face it, the move to secure as much of the space around Middle East oil reserves is just a step to ensure that we will take what we want if we decide we must. I really believe that our leadership believes that the ensuing chaos here for a lack of oil is worth any war.

With the rise of China and others as great consumers of what we require for even the simplest of tasks in our culture, you can be sure the focus is on maintaining our comfort level at the expense of lives or whatever it takes.

A tremendously written article with many touchpoints for anyone who really ares to know the truth.

If fear the author has it correct, we filter reality to our own disconnected needs.

There are many books out about the demise of the American ideal that further this position. I do hope we break free, but I doubt we will. It is a very sad truth stated by Michael Massing. Hopefully more clear voices can awaken this country ensnared in its own comfort inducing trap.

I think sunspot's comments are valid.

My larger concern, though, is that we are not understanding the reasons for all the creative mortgages, the foreclosures and that we are headed for a financial meltdown.

The real issue, as I see it, is a fundamental shift in the American economy to service sector lives. Most service sector incomes are too anemic for the kind of life we are accustomed to in America.

We are witnessing the symptoms, not the disease. Our citizens are losing financial ground at an alarming rate while corporations outsource our jobs and strike at us with financial tools that rob us of our ability to create real wealth. We're enslaved to credit, good or bad.

Even our fat-cats are in jeopardy as most wealth is now speculative and residing in the stock market. As long as we do not realize the gains we might have and reinvest locally and SAVE even at NO interest, we are soon to find we are a very poor nation when it all falls down.

I guess I kind of glossed over the parts about millionaire writers...outrage of such nonsense duly acknowledgeded.

But dear Heather has taken her Black and Decker portable drill from Home Depot and bored holes in the cellophane wrapped empty minds of a failing America and our hubris. A few nuts and bolts neatly attached to a 2x4, courtesy of Lumber Liquidators and attached to the atrophied American brain, a in phone camera, and we've a reality show most are missing.

Bravo on calling us out. We suck.