"If I am president of the United States, this rescue plan will not be the end of what we do to strengthen this economy. It will only be the beginning."

Oh yeah? Fine. Before the bailout is resubmitted, I'd like to see an on-the-record roll-call vote in both houses on a "Statement of Intent" for future actions.

I'm not dumb enough to want nitty-gritty details, nor am I naive enough that I think that a Statement of Intent will mean a lot, but it'd be nice to have something to point at next year.

Obama has leverage over his Party, McCain does not.

No republican honestly feels McCain will win in November at this point, and will not stick their neck out for him.

By Contrast, Democrats know Obama will be the winner in November and know that now he has stuck his name on this project they will get in line or get cut out of legislation, party funds, and access in the comming term.

Simply put, Obama can be a leader, because he is a leader, McCain can't because he isn't.

Now of course, this opens the door for McCain to call this Obama's bail out plan, but as we have recently noticed, people aren't as stupid as John McCain had hoped, and this will likely carrry through to November.

If all McCain offers is bitter ashes to Obama's victory, Obama's victory is assured.

Much more likely at this point, now that Obama has made a strong statement, is McCain to coatail it on the project to keep Obama from getting all the credit.

At this point All McCain wants to do is save face, and keep Obama in the low 300's in his victory. He needs to stop the bleeding and there just aren't a lot of options left for him to do that.

The administration, Congress, McCain and now Obama have not allowed other voices to have input on the plan. This bill is the wrong approach to address the current crisis. Naked Capitalism puts it succinctly:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/09/why-bailout-bill-will-not-solve-credit.html

By signing onto this package, Obama hamstrings himself in any future presidency. This is his economic FISA vote or put another way, No Banker Left Behind.

The bailout will only make things worse, by misdirecting needed billions from the real bailouts we need - mortgage owners, the mortgage market, commercial banking and the FDIC.

However, Obama buys the package, just like McCain. That must be what 'change' is.

"We ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action." -- 400 eminent Professors of Economics, organized by Professor John Cochrane (University of Chicago). September 25, 2008

"There is a kind of suggestion in the Paulson proposal that if only we provide enough money to financial markets, this problem will disappear. But that does nothing to address the fundamental problem of bleeding foreclosures and holes in the balance sheets of banks." -- Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel Laureate, Columbia University). September 26, 2008

"I totally disagree that this needs to be done this week. It's more important to get it right." -- Alan Blinder (Princeton University).

"I have doubts that the $700 billion bailout if enacted, would work." -- William M. Isaac, (Former Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation).

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2008/09/slowing-down-the-bailout.html

“It’s our view that this package, in a fundamental sense, will not solve the problem,” said Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. Mr. Johnson said that he had been hoping that the bailout plan would simply stabilize the markets through the presidential elections in November, but that he was now pessimistic about even that.

Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners, an investment firm in Greenwich, Conn., said the Treasury’s bailout plan might have even unnerved many investors. “I don’t see how it can help banks unless it’s clear that the government is going to buy these assets for substantially more than they are worth right now,” Mr. Darda said. “It’s such a big step in terms of government influencing the private sector, and it’s hard for investors to take a leap like that overnight, especially when they don’t know what’s going on.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/business/30plan.html?hp

"It is obvious that the current financial crisis is becoming more severe in spite of the Treasury rescue plan (or maybe because of it as this plan is totally flawed)

-Nouriel Roubini

http://tinyurl.com/46r24u

Hopefully the press will ask Obama which economic experts he consulted with before he arrived at his decision to get behind this bailout. He prides himself on listening to many points of view before making decisions. Who has he consulted with?

There has not been a single expert testimony before Congress on this issue, even though there are many people who have spent their entire lives studying banking and financial crises. On what rational basis is Obama making this decision?

Many folks are of the opinion that what Wall Street needs (to paraphrase the Joker) is an enima.

Let the house of cards fall in, let some of these fools on wall street sell apples for a living, let this story complete as the markets dictate and everything will be fine in the long run.

It's the long run that has people worry. On a pure numbers game, the free marketers are right, for every boom there is a bust, and the market will whipe away those fortunes of those too stupid to not loan their money without documentation or accuratly valued collateral.

It's the short run, where people live, lose their jobs, go hungry and die, that has the non purist spooked.

There comes a time, when our greed must be for the nation and not just for ourselves. Those of us who carred for our monies have little fear of this current tumult, but for those without the means to survive, who are alread unemployed or soon will be, this is not the time to await the comming of a market correction.

A global depression, which is a possiblity from this event, is a fate we do not want to experience again, it is what leads to marxism, facism, and eugenics, none of which are enjoyable situations to contemplate.

Certainly, this situation doesn't have to lead to a frozen market, a collapse of value, or a global depression. This could be a minor correction, soon to be rectified, with little pain except to the deserving. Likewise, it was a perfectly acceptable to think that Katrinia would pass by New Orleans.

There is no gaurantee what the outcome of inaction or action will be, but when the stakes are high you have to ask, can we take that chance.

Many would like to take a chance and let the house fall in, one can guess they do not live in that house when they make that suggestion, or at least they presume they do not.

The Largest Chevy Dealer in the country recently went out of business because of this nonesense. And all though the owners of the business will be o.k. once they liquidate their inventory, the mechanics, the secretaries, the janitors, the detailers, and the bookkeepers who worked for them will not be, especially if no other job shows up to save the day.

A Cash economy is something that looks good on paper, so long as you have cash, of the right kind, in abundance. Most Americans do not. This is not the time to be a purist. This is a time for leaders to make the hard unpopular choices that are in the best interest of the country.

Yes, a few villians will be saved in the saving of the economy, but we should not in our zeal to punish the criminals who lead us here trample on the workers who will be crushed beaneath the falling house of cards.