If they don't, the rest of us could be going without Christmases and birthdays - not to mention breakfasts, lunches and dinners - for a long time.

Let this bailout stay dead and the banking system be brought to its knees. We desperately need a decent humbling... maybe then we can revise the rabidly inflationary banking system and start living sanely again.

The Dow went down 6%. That's hardly a disaster. In 87 it went down 25%! Now that was a disaster. Yet here we all are, alive and well. It's fear mongers like you who cause a panic that is the real cause of any "disaster". The Dow is still above 10,000. When it gets to 3,000 then you can panic.

So if Pelosi had not said anything to offend their sensibilities, or the 12 Republicans had stuck to their guns, the bill would have passed 217-216.

Wow. One vote. That's some mixed message.

I'm just thankful for Andrew Leonard's continuously cogent commentary herein. It's the clear spot on a series of murky days.

Talk about "hand-wringing." Let the big boys take care of themselves.

"Thus jobs in durable goods manufacturing -- such as autos, heavy household appliances and business equipment -- are likely to be hit hard."

The auto industry already got their 25 billion bailout. Are any of these other things still manufactured in America?

The initital emotional response is to say "Let the Fat Cats drown." Unfortunately, they're going to take a lot of us down with them, including the posters on this thread if they have any stock holdings or a 401 (k) plan -- or haven't seen how much money they've lost in the past few days and weeks.

While I'm also philosophically opposed to bailing out Wall Street for its indiscretions, it makes little sense to punish millions of ordinary Americans whose small investments are their safety nets on the basis of either ideology or anger (which is why the polls on the bailout plan seem to be reversing; Americans are starting to realize that they are the ones who are going to be hurt, far more than the Fat Cats who already have millions stashed away). Cooler heads should prevail.

Market correct itself? With what? It's time to hold our noses and take a needed dose of castor oil, if only if will help our symptons. We can work on the cure next.

Most capital investment that firms do is out of retained earnings, not credit.

I'm not convinced that the crisis on Wall Street cannot be dealt with via current structures.

James K Galbraith, professor of economics at the University of Texas, wrote in the Washington Post last weekend:

'The point of the bailout is to buy assets that are illiquid but not worthless. But regular banks hold assets like that all the time. They're called "loans".'

'With banks, runs occur only when depositors panic, because they fear the loan book is bad. Deposit insurance takes care of that. So why not eliminate the pointless $100,000 cap on federal deposit insurance and go take inventory? If a bank is solvent, money market funds would flow in, eliminating the need to insure those separately. If it isn't, the FDIC has the bridge bank facility to take care of that.'

The column regularly goes on and on (with accuracy and insight) about the un-sustainability of this, that and the other thing, but suddenly the whole crappy system that has put us into the unsustainable mess we're in takes a bit of a hit because a few representatives actually listen to their constituents (or their consciences) and you're wringing your hands in fear? The changes you claim to want are not going to come without some possibly large degree of pain, and they certainly are not going to arise through propping up things as they have been for a little while longer with a lot more debt. This is supposedly a democracy and our representatives for a change acted like it is. And I don't buy that 'the average joe' just doesn't get the complexity of the situation bull. You do? Does anyone, including those that engineered it? And if they understand it well enough to be so convinced it is the end of the world as we know it unless $700 billion is borrowed and is thrown into the pockets of those at the heart of the problem why are they unable to explain it to the rest of us rubes? "It's complex...." Uh huh. The party is over and the bill has to get paid sometime..... why not now?

The problem is that today the bill may be $700 billion (actually, only half that initially under the House bill), but that price will only go up by inaction. As I've said, the amended Paulson Plan isn't a long-term solution, which has been needed for years -- actually, what was needed was resistance to Reagonomic deregulation -- but a government commitment to restore confidence in the markets and prevent an economic free fall, which will hurt millions of ordinary Americans far more than dealing with the assumed debt (some of which would soon be recouped as the market stabilizes) on a long-term strategic basis.

Yes, it stinks that the situation was allowed to degenerate to this point. But that's rather irrelevent at the moment. What's necessary is taking an action which will protect the assets of millions of Americans, irrespective of whether or not the Fat Cats on Wall Street also benefit. I'd love to see the derivative traders suffer, but I'd be cutting my own throat to do so and I'm not suicidal.

Treasury Dept officials had a conference call this evening for members of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). Calculated Risk got ahold of the number and bloggers infiltrated the call.

Transcripts and a link to an audio recording are here:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/09/mussolini-style-corporatism-in-action.html

Among the revelations are that the tranching provisions of the bailout are bogus as are the provisions for limiting executive salaries. Mere window-dressing.

Do you panicked sheep still want to go along with this charade?