The $700 billion bailout plan is already working. - Inspired by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson

"Already working?" For whom? Yes, it is working if the plan was to nationalize our nation's major industries. But, "no" if the plan was to stabilize the housing issues that caused the house of cards to tumble. A correction is needed, not a bailout. When you bail someone out of jail for an offense clearly commited, you simply delay the inevitible and almost insure the reoccurance of the event. (Drunk driving, drug abuse, etc) Our government is playing the role of the co-dependent parent that keeps rescuing the child in trouble at the expense of the children that did not get in trouble. Henry Paulson is the new poster child for co-dependents. He should pick up "Co-Dependent No More" and apply the principles to our financial markets and economy in general.

It's working for the too big to fail and regional banks as well as for the non-financial biggies companies but not for the small business owners and consumers who need it most. The restrictions on executive compensation is a joke. It was a bait and switch from the beginning. And Congress know it was, otherwise they would be howling by now.

Relativity my dear Watson, relativity. For our collective national sanity, I refuse to believe that the $700 billion bailout was akin to pouring money into a dark (potentially bottomless) pit. I refuse to believe that. No matter what Hank says about "how well our bailout is working" (remember how well the White House said Operation Iraqi Freedom was working?), our economy has a pretty serious "boo boo" right now. And it's probably safe to say that the Economics Department at the White House didn't fully understand the genesis and magnitude of said "boo boo". (Think words of Alan Greenspan.) When I hear that Paulson has decided to "shift the focus of the bailout", it really means that the original focus of the bailout was misguided. We are finally shifting focus to consumers instead of institutions -- finally helping the one institution that can really reverse this economic inertia -- the consumers.

It's working great for AIG...they can continue to attend $440,000 retreats...what a farce! We can only pray the American people voted against our Congressmen and women that voted for this fiasco...lest we endure more of this buffoonery in future years.
The next step is for Congress to assist the Big 3 automakers by encouraging them to continue their bad habits by providing a bailout for them! Is this capitalism, where we let the best run companies survive in the market place, or nationalism? I can't tell anymore. These three manufacturers chose for years to NOT take a more competitive stance against foreign automakers and look where it has taken them. Toyota even tried to assist GM out in 1984 by partnering with them in California, but to no avail! The made this bed, now the need to sleep in it. And we deserve the representatives we have voted into office as well.

I agree with Larry, You've seen "Daktari"? The weaker animals always go. So the kids cry when you tie an old tiger to a tree and shoot him. But that's life! America's in a state of renewal. We've gotta have the strength to tie a few companies to a tree and bash 'em with a shovel.

It has been reported that the $700 Billion bailout will actually cost us taxpayers about $3 TRILLION instead - working?? I would suggest not, buying bad credit card and auto loan debt is vastly different than the "proposed plan" of bailing out mortage loans with real estate as the security. This is absolutely just another boondoggle for the left wing liberals to grab more taxpayer money, this time in the name of saving the national financial system. If you ever want to see how corrupt the government is just follow the trail of dollars bleeding from hard working taxpayers.

I feel that the $700 billion dollar plan is great just it has to be tracked on how the money is spent and where. These days you really can't trust anyone. For example, look at AIG the first junket they spent $500 grand in California and then the NY attorney General stepped in and they complied to ill spending. Now just recently they spent $300 grand in Arizona on a second junket. This company should not be allowed to just spend money wildly. The federal govt should track money lent out to everyone that accepts the bailout package. This will in turn help ease market concerns and help create a stronger bullish market. This will help bring in more profits since the taxpayers are really paying for it. Also ceo payroll needs to be regulated and there should be a limit to how much a ceo makes. Corporate companies need to survive and if ceos who just sit on their behinds and do not and collect millions... there is something wrong with this picture. There should be a federal salary cap in place for any ceo of a big corporation. We have the govt do monitoring and this will help create new jobs and help shorten the unemployment lines. And in return the govt can also make additional revenue on payroll taxes which will help the people and the economy. Thanks for reading my blog.
sincerely,
MP

It is surely not working for me or my firm. If they want to bail out the auto industry, the banking industry and help me, give us back the interest deduction on car loans. It just might work. Too easy isn't it.

Did our congressional representatives attach any common sense restriction on this money? These companies are recieving money because their leaders were full of bad ideas! Are we trusting them now to use the bailout money wisely?
-Before this crisis, I wondered why there wasn't better profitibility in my mutual fund accounts. Now I see it's because people in the financial world take so much of the money in fees and bonuses. They acted like the money was infinite.