Is Bush really so incredibly stupid that he doesn't realize he is to blame for the financial crisis facing us right now? Don't worry, Georgie, we've been very afraid for almost eight years now.

Just go back over your mistakes; the money they have cost the American taxpayer could pay off your self-imposed debt. You spend as though you have a bottomless personal ATM account. Get your bailout money from that. Make sure the account is in YOUR name, though, not the American taxpayers.

There is no way Americans should believe anything George W. Bush says, or Republican and Democrat that goes along with any Republican plan, Bipartisanship is dead, the Republicans made that perfectly clear in 1994 when they took over both houses of Congress. Democrats must stick to their core principles and do what is in the best interest of the people of this Nation. Yesterday was the first Presidential Debate and for what I saw this election is for Barack Obama to lose. What was that John is right nonsense, and the surge is working and Obama is to naive and does not understand the complexity of the Presidency. Did Obama forget that this War was not about the surge, but about the 4,100 + lives that have been sacrifice and the willingness of John McBush to sacrifice even more lives in a War that was started on a lie and continues to be fought on a lie. Then to let John McBush get away with his endorsement of the "Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act signed by Bill Clinton in 1999 overturning the Glass Steagall act, Which since 1933 had kept a wall between commercial and investment banks."(The Nation) Then just like now there are Democrats that are willing to go along for personal financial gain, those Democrats are called Conservative Democrats(Red Dogs) and should be purged from the party. Another issue in which Obama let McBush take command was Veterans issues. McCain said he would take care of veterans, that was a joke, McCain has a 20%Positive rating and Obama a 90% rating by Veteran Organizations. McCain Has nearly voted against every veterans benefit program because he though it was to expensive.

RNC was "minding the store" on Wall Street and decided that putting money into the cash register was optional.... and when caught the RNC excuses itself by saying:

"The Commandment THOU SHALL NOT STEAL was written way too loosely... and without sufficient detail to properly implement, so we made it up as we went along ...

Can WE have those Bush pardons now?

Hey, Hey ! How soon is OUR bailout money showing up !!!"

I do not claim to understand the economic system of high finance, and I have serious suspicions of those who claim they do (they are always quick to offer explanations after the fact and rather vague about predictions), but would it not be even more fair to prop up, or bail out, the people on the bottom of the financial collapse; those who bought into the sub-prime mortgage dream?

In this way the forgotten victims would be assisted to keep their homes, the financiers would receive their payments, and the barons at the top would be severely chastened.

Instead of directly assisting the financial giants, the greater tax-paying base would benefit instead of just the bunglers (or crooks) who caused the whole mess in the first place.

You could call it "Trickle-up Economics"

I thought it was deregulation. If I'm wrong, I stand corrected. But I thought it was the entire loosening of protections that created these monster entities that are 'too big to fail'. If they were smaller, they'd just fail, but now they can't be allowed to, supposedly, because entities like AIG are enmeshed in all kinds of entities and transactions. If it was regulation that caused this, then this would have happened decades ago.

And illegal alien homeowners? I don't know any. Maybe they exist, but I don't know any. The immigrants I live near are about 5 people in a studio apartment. They're not rich folks who can even think about buying anything. I think much had to do with housing speculation, condo flipping and speculation-- I have a relative who got caught up in that get-rich-quick scheme and is now screwed, against warnings of people like me. That's part of the story here- everyone gambling on bad loans, trading them and suddenly every dollar seems connected to them. It was bad judgment on every level, high and low. The housing bubble was like the dot-com bubble; everybody wanted a piece of the action and didn't read the fine print and consider repercussions. Greed is like love -- totally blind.

And as for executive caps, 'talent' seems to have exited a while ago. If it were still around, would this be happening?

I see you forgot the Democrats who wanted to lod the Bailout with BILLINS Of WASTEFUL pork.

Hopefully they will exit right in front of the nearest NY city bus, with you in tow.

The problem was caused by regulation, not deregulation. The vast majority of sub-prime mortgages are held by minorities, many by illegal aliens. The government issued specific regulations instructing lenders to disregard conventional standards- credit histories, and so forth- and to be creative in justifying loans so that minority home ownership could be increased. Lenders who refused to comply would be sued for discrimination. Furthermore, the implied government guarantees for Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac also encouraged lenders to assume risky mortgages which they normally would have avoided.

Remove government influence, and lenders base their decisions on market realities. Otherwise they go bust long before things get this bad. Nobody would have bought these mortgages without government guarantees. Nobody will buy them today, even at foreclosure prices.

Cap executive compensation, and talent exits.

What will happen if the bailout doesn't happen. What does it mean for the economy to be "in grave danger" and for there to be significant risk of "market failure?"

Does it mean I won't have a job? Does it mean that I won't be able to afford stuff? Does it mean that I'll have money and a job, but that I won't be able to get at the money or use it?

Does it mean that my stock investments will lost 10% next year instead of staying flat?

WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN!?!?!?

I suspect that one of the reasons the public doesn't appear to support the bailout is because it doesn't really know what it prevents. Unless someone can credibly say what the bad consequences will be in something other than an updated lexicon from Chicken Little, Americans will not support this bill, and they shouldn't.