Its a big cookie jar kids!  We go through a financial crisis with each generation and usually just prior to a big election.  We place our trust in 535 folks that have little qualification to do anything else, then wonder how they get so much wrong.  Unlike Gordon Gecko in Wall Street, greed is not good; it brings out the worst in all of us (and let's face it, we all cheat when it comes to money).

We have gone from a society where thrift and budgeting were the norm, to everyone having the $100 pair of Air Jordans.  We all have to have the best and the better, and if we cannot afford it, there are easy payment plans.  If we fail to payup, there is no shame; we are victims.  

We have come up with more politically correct terminology to call a losing cheat anthing but that, and when we do catch them with their fingers in the cookie jar, we fail to mete out a punishment to fit the crime.  I only hope there is a proper circle in Dante's inferno for all of them; Democrats and Republicans.

Cutting the interest over and over again is what got us here in the first place. The idea behind those cuts was to boost a slowing economy.It only baited people who had no buisness getting financed in the first place with new purchasing power. Those purchasers were running financially "tight" before they started going out buying houses, new cars, etc because of low interest rates. Pretty soon the cost of living "energy", rose just enough to put those already financially strapped over the limit. The problem with is that now all those houses, new cars, pretty much everything financed on the rate cut "bubble" if you will, has now burst and created an economic avalanche.

Not being a financial guru,but just an ordinary middle class citizen of the U.S.A. here are my thoughts. A bailout is just going to be a temporary fix to this country's problems. There is way to much government and not enough (we the People). Our government has failed us miserably in this mess. So now they want to bail us out. In doing so they will probably want a whole bunch of over site bodies making government even bigger. The government is out of control thanks to special interests and lobbying. They could care less what ordinary people that elected them want.

Next publicly traded businesses need to be held accountable for the way their companies are run. The upper management and boards need to be graded and the records made public in easy to understand terms. Like well managed ,management lacking,very poor management etc. They should not be left to inflate company earnings and then leave with tens of millions of dollars after doing a terrible job. The ones that have should be made to pay it back, and there you would have several billion dollars to start your bailout.

The mortgage  mess to many people buying what they can not afford... Oh well somebody told them they could afford it. Give me a break. Granted there are some that were caught in the low interest bad loan package and sell off scheme that deserve better, but where is the regulating  bodies of big government when this all happened.

I am one who says we better be careful what we wish for in a government bailout. It could be a huge sellout for the average person. You make bad business decisions and your business will fail,and I think that is what we should let happen.

dudes and dudetts - why are we wasting our times talking like this, we have no power, its up to the knuckleheads on wall street and lets keep it like that

If the government of the United States of America absolutely must push this crazy bailout thru, why not give the great small buisinesses( who by the way employ a vast majority of the people in this great country) a huge chunk of that money. Small businesses have some of the sharpest money handlers and fiscally responsible people running them.Yes i know what the powers that be would say to that."How could we ever let that incredibly large amount of taxpayer dollars in the hands of some willey nilley people running some small buisinesses somewhere".To that i would say. "Look at the mess the finacial markets are in now,brought about in part or commpletly by the poor mortgage lending practices of these crazy lending institutions. Which, by the way, were supposedly over seen by the almighty fed".Almost everything the government gets its hand into gets messed up. Give the money from this bailout to the people who can best handle it. After all  small businesses and the people they employ are the people footing the bill. aka the american taxpayer!!!

Interest rates mean nothing! we have to start from the source. Its the banks that have caused this problem due to handing out so many loans and then selling the loans off to other banks. If we do a bail out the value of the dollor will diminish rapidly! even if you did invest with the highest rate you can it means nothing if the dollar isnt worth its weight in gold. This bailout needs to be set to flames. let it and all the companies and banks that are trying to get the bail out money go up in a ROARING FIRE! all who make it through, the average people and the companies that were not taking loans will be all the more better off. Lets not Cause the dollor to fall any further!

No,

the fed can get out of this mess by backing 3% home loans, those on the fence can stay in, those not hurting will have more disposable income. We all win!!!!

How about teaching Americans to live within their means (only what they can afford by paying cash) and become less materialistic? No amount of whatever anyone does can fix this situation in the long term if people don't control their wants and needs and fall prey to all the glossy/colorful ads and marketing....

Decrease the demand and everything will automatically adjust on the supply side...

Honestly telll me your not serious? Do you any clue what so ever about economic's. Let me just get you started with a little bit of an education. You see, the whole things starts with a thing called capitol. This is acheived by SAVING money. Interest is paid to attract people to save more money. THEN that person is a good credit risk. Then and only then should the bank loan money to that person and charge interest for that service. Then the bank takes your money that you are saving and invests it. HOPEFULLY in something other than the chairman of the boards salary. And the interest you pay on that loan , pays for the salary of the nice lady or man behind the thick bullet proof glass of where your keeping your money safe. All the while you should be getting interest on your savings and adding to your capitol. Now you see how that works.. Are you serious.. Zero interest?

if te interest rates are cut to zero and so the bank CD rates also come down, then the only foolproof avenue with be the Indian real estate where the growth is 40% or so per year. buy for $100 today , to become $200 in 2 years.