The press just isn't doing it's job anymore. Just like when they let the Iraqi fiasco go thru without hard questioning, they are letting this bailout go thru without question. They let a fool Like Chris Dodd get away with a discounted mortgage he claims he didn't know he got for his house out in Iowa, without one word, or the Interior Dept. Oil scandle, nothing in the news on that either.

One thing caused this mess. The foolish belief that real estate prices would go up forever and never go down.

I pulled my money out of Wachovia and put it in a local savings and loan,I cannot patronize the rotten greedy brokers anymore,everyone should boycott Wall street and support the depression era attitudes of home grown banks.

I also pulled my money out Wachovia and put it in a mutual bank that survived the Depression. If Wall Street hadn't sold mortages, they would have found another "complicated financial instrument" to churn fees and pass on problems to others. This fiasco, which reportedly will cost three trillion, can be added on to Iraq for another six trillion. For the top 1 percent, it's been a recipe to gauge the taxpayers who are left to pay for their own loses and for the people who screwed them. What a deal. TR is turning over in his grave.

Thanks for your hopeful little crowd-control piece, Mr. Sattler, which could have been written without doing any of the undocumented, unattributed "research" you claim for it.

Essentially this piece spouts what I'll call The New Consensus Party Line -- "Don't Worry, Be Happy", like those well-adjusted youngsters mentioned early on. Carry on, act like nothing's wrong, let 'em steal your money and be grateful they ain't kickin' down your kitchen door to filch what you've got squirreled away in the coffee can.

If this reaction can be cultivated and encouraged, we can all settle down to simply calmly accepting the next round of bail-outs ... and the next ... and the next -- these guys (and I include both major parties and their Presidential candidates) have found a fool-proof way to tap the Treasury almost at will, with a Scare-Story-of-the-Month; and nobody -- repeat NOBODY -- ever gives up a successful routine until they are stopped by some outside force.

We are being raised and sheared like the sheep we've become. "Taking it in our stride ... " indeed ...

WOE To them, ---->>> Wall St.

The sins (PRIDE & GREED) of the fathers,

Visited Upon the children (Us)

Coupled with a Lot

of 'SELF' Exalting & DECEPTIVE practices

= our Present financial, RED/Black HOLE...

What is the problem? This should have been nipped in the bud. There are home owners losing their homes that had great credit untill apr made their lives impossible. Why don't the finacial companies help these people? Put the payments back to where they can afford them. I would bet, 3/4 of these people really did not know the consequences of an APR. Take the People with good credit that never missed a house payment and give them the benifit of the doubt. They trusted the Lenders, ( which was evidenty wrong) now the lenders should work with the consumer that was never late and made payments untill the interest rates where so high they could not keep up. I feel the financial institutions could work with the good consumer and work with them. Even if it means attaching the late payment to the end of the Mortgage for writing some of the bad balance off.

Mr Lambert has part of the answer. His suggestions toward the banking industry have merit. Truth of the matter is simply lack of oversight and this is mostly on the part of the Senate and House, banking and finance committees. They are OUR watchdogs and they were not watching much of anything. That is the mainstay problem - we put our trust in elected representatives and they in turn wind up in the pockets of special interests who are major campaign contributors. Net result, those in charge turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the electorate.
Now that the country is in deep trouble they are attempting to placate both sides. Putting lipstick on the bail out pig is going to prove difficult - it's a mighty big pig. Nonetheless, they will do it and send the Revlon bill to the taxpayer.
All in all, it is our fault as we elected those that allowed the excesses and gave them their blessings.
The young usually have little involvement in politics as they simply do not understand how much it effects their lives. Those in their 40's know that it effects them, but choose to let the leadership have their way.
When you get over 60 - you know all of the above - and also how to exercise your vote and NOT let them have their way. Those that are young are about to learn a hard lesson. Time to wake up and get involved if you want to get old and have something there when you get to retirement.

Don't you all get it???? Bush has set this up so all the Democrats are scurrying around trying to implement the "Bush" bailout. Now in comes McCain to save the day....since the majority of people are against this...he now rides in with a new plan and says..."I'm not like Bush." See...I make it happen....meanwhile, Obama and the Democrats look like fools trying to implement a ridiculous $700 billion plan. It's Bush politics working again!!!!! It sucks!

Meg -- Mmmm. If Obama and the 'Rats have unknowingly blundered into a trap that you yourself can so easily detect, he and they have no business asking for your vote in November.

Period.

Fact is, the problem from the beginning for our de facto One-Party System (the 'Rats are simply the Good Cop in a classic good Cop/Bad Cop shake-down) has been how to derail a very large grass-roots clamor for "change". So they set up a knight in shining armor, and now they are knocking him down.

Whether Obama knowingly assumed this role or is simply an innocent dupe is immaterial -- although I will point out that innocent dupes make poor allies and even poorer Presidents.

So the 'Rats'll get beat again this election, as per plan, and can continue to pretend to be The Oppostion with the same degree of futility we have come to know so well.

If you really want "change", I strongly recommend you look outside the ranks of the two-faced Single Party that has been robbing you blind for so many years; and give both the 'Pugs and the 'Rats a wide berth from now on.

It is a shame that the average folks Sattler talked to don't have a better grip on the problem OR the proposed solutions. That is largely the fault of the "offend no one" media, which is also still trying to entertain rather than educate us.

Nevertheless, their anger is appropriate:

1. The bailout does nothing for the homeowner who can't pay his escalating mortgage (yes, partly the result of his own greed and stupidity in taking a mortgage he could not pay for down the line), and who is getting much of the blame for starting this meltdown.

2. If the federal government relieves banks and investment banks of the so-called "toxic" mortgage-backed securities and CDO's associated with these mortgages, its plan is to wait until the situation is clearer as to how many and which mortgages will default. When this uncertainty is removed, the securities willl gain in value and the government will sell them back to the banks at a price that will ALLOW THE BANKS TO MAKE A PROFIT from their own bad decisions (yes, also the result of greed and stupidity).

3. What is wrong with this picture? Other than the fact the the Treasury Secretary comes from Goldman Sachs, one of the most prestigious investment firms, and the Bush family has been tight with Wall Street firms for several generations. I can only guess that Bernanke is half-frozen in fear, and p***ing himself over the fact that this happened on his watch.

5% foreclosure rate cannot collapse an entire system. No such thing exist that a licensed Mortgage broker can accept and grant a mortgage based upon false, misleading, bogus and ficticious people and information. a great deal of mortgages were granted to people with some risk factors but it was not the mortgage payment that was the problem. The problem was misuse of credit cards. What no one is saying is that credit cards created the entire crisis. Credit card companies are predators, handing out credit to anyone who'll sign their life away for eternity. When these people were late on a payment they found themselves hit with 40% interest, late payment fees and doubled minimum payments. With the increased cost of living rising drastically more and more use of their credit cards were necessary to keep up. It became impossible to live under that much strife and people had no alternative than to simply walk off and away from the mess. The mortgage companies did not lobby congress several years ago to change bankruptcy laws to protect their interest but the credit card companies did. They knew in advance what was going on and has thus far escaped all scrutiny. People did not use good judgement by accepting the loan sharks credit cards, but dammed if you do and dammed if you don't. Home ownership is the great American dream. Minorities, single parents and lower income people deserved a chance to participate, it was the credit card companies that stole away the reality of the dream with loan shark interest rates and it was they that knew the poorer people would not be able to maintain 3 or 4 cards at 40% late fee interest. The economy is a trickle up as well as trickle down, the crisis is that the trickle up payments ceased and when that happened the giants began to fall. Now they want a bailout that will have to also be paid by those forced out of their homes. The system is evil, we should know better than to play games with the devil. The next time we enter the arena, never again sign for a credit card.

So, everyone has opinions. That doesn't mean you will ever change anyones opinion. Believe me, there are at least a handful of people out there that are thinking about what to do. This is suppose to happen eventually. Look at the way things have been getting worse, and have been for a very long time? Defintely not getting better. I realize it is much easier to stick your head in the sand and hope it all goes away, (ignore it). People that are out there thinking about their families and what to do, have no reason to post their opinions, because, well opinions, everyone is entitled to their own.
By the way Phil, you're right and I agree with what you are saying. But I think, (opinion, take it or leave it), there is more to it.

Why isn't the media reporting exactly where Obama got some of his big contributors ... Wall Street. His Dem buddies in Congress made sure that monies came his way. Congress has their special interests and all has been getting big bucks for supporting the GREED.

you cant out stink skunks
our national disgrace is washington and our government
god forbid they do whats right
if youve ever seen a reason for term limits watch tv.

Ron Paul saw this coming a long time ago. Too bad the media ignored him. Write in Ron Paul for president.

SEEMS TO ME THAT THIS WAS PREORDAINED EARLY IN GAME - WHEN THE PRIMARYS WERE BEING HELD - MOST OF THE UPPER ECHELON KNEW THIS WAS COMING (LAST YEAR I KNEW THAT THE NEXT PRESIDENT WAS GOING TO BE SADDLED WITH THIS UGLY MESS - AND I AM SURE THE POWERS TO BE DID TOO) THEY WERE JUST HOLDING THEIR BREATH HOPING IT WOULD NOT HAPPEN BEFORE THE ELECTION - WONDER WHY THE CLINTONS ARE BREATHING A SIGH OF RELIEF? NO ONE CAN CONVINCE ME THAT EVERYONE SAW IT COMING BUT DID NOTHING IN HOPES IT WOULD OCCUR AFTER THE ELECTION.

Look, now the full picture is reflected. Democrats AND Republican are fighting like a bunch of delinquents on a ball field. This country is in financial crisis because of the moron in the oval office and his "puppeteers". As far as setting up controls, the only this will work is "fire" every politician and get some Americans in office who care more about this country than the 500+ clowns that call themselves "our representatives". Wall Street has gotten away with so much and the elitist tier have sucked this country dry. War, famine, financial chaos. Oh yeah, let's have the good old Republicans back in office. But, with the Democrats, what's the difference other than a different party name? This group will tax, spend and give away money to groups of "poor me, woe is me, I can't work". We can't survive much longer. We're coming down to the bare dirt. God Bless America! It was great while it lasted. Thanks George (both of those jerks) and old wiley Bill Clinton. Mr Sly of Hand himself. Unfortunately there's nothing out there to vote for. It's sad. If I do vote, it'll be for a third party candidate OR Sara Palin. She's young, true, but so far not tainted with the greed, corruption and egotism that seems to invade a persons character once they are elected to this public "outhouse" that is called Congress.

This has been an engineered "crisis" and as with most crimes a good cop always follows the money to who benfitted. Easy here, JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, EXXON and big oil. This is a financial 911 and the housing bust, MSB leveraged scam, and taking out most of Wall St. competition then trying to ram this "bail out" through is amazing! JP Morgan Chase Bank, David Rockefeller was CEO, chairman of Chase Bank, Founder of the Trilateral Commision(and Obama's chief foreign policy advisor co-founded that with Rockefeller), Hon.Chairman for life-Council on Foreign Relations which Dick Cheney was a director for, Rice and all the rest are members. They are globalist bankers and invented NAFTA, World Trade Organization, control the FED-(actually are the FED) and even invented the CIA out of the OSS which operated right out of their building in NYC. David Rockefeller wrote a 100 million dollar check to Harvard and they bring up the younger select few to continue the plan. These are the real rulers behind the scenes and they play both parties with the Bush crime family having been their dirty doers for decades since they got Prescott's Nazi money returned after it had been seized by FDR for Trading With The Enemy Act violatins-(eight counts)-Union Banking Corporation in NYC-Adolf's Angel. These are the big boys and they install presidents, control the FED, the dollar, instigate wars, and determine foreign policy.
This bail out package they are trying to ram though if you read section 8, says that the Secretary of the Treasury would be able to use the US Treasury and unlimited taxpayer money at his discretion without any oversight even by a court of law forever. Well, that really means JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs could play with all our money for whatever schemes they could dream up without anyone looking over their shoulder! Pretty nifty plan! It's not just 700 billion we don't have and would have to borrow paying huge interest on, it's a blank check from the US Treasury to JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs and bypassing the US Congress, courts, and president. It's a financial coup. You won't read about that in the mainstream media-they control them.

I work in Real Estate and would like to share some info.

Years ago if a home buyer did not put up at least 20% they were forced to buy PMI insurance. This protected the banks against risk of default by the buyer. The buyer either had equity or insurance against default.

Over the past few years the banks decided it was more profitable to give 2 loans 1st for 80% and a second from a different bank for the remaining 5-30%. (Yes they also financed their closing costs and able to charge interest on those costs too) The banks loved this deal cause they were charging much higher interest rates on the second loan, boosting their profits and bonuses. This worked for their bottom line but didn't protect them from default. Now people are defaulting and they have no insurance nor customers with any equity in their homes.

This was pure and simple greed by the banks and really stupid lending principles. The banks deserve to fail and the exec that made these decisions should be sued for return of all of the bonuses.