If a vote were held Thursday or Friday, the U.S. Treasury's $700 billion bailout bill would probably pass both chambers of the U.S. Congress, but by narrow margins and with a) an equity stake for U.S. taxpayers for every company that receives assistance, b) a cap on executive compensation, and c) oversight provisions.

Once the bailout work is done, should the U.S. Congress also pass a homeowners assistance bill to help more homeowners with at-risk / burdensome mortgages refinance to secure a lower interest rate?

As BloggingStocks' Jon Berr pointed out Monday, while lawmakers (and no doubt taxpayers) do not want to reward housing speculators, there's a large pool of borrowers who will be able to pay their mortgages if they can get out of high interest rate notes, and other burdensome adjustable rate mortgages, and refinance at a low, 30-year fixed rate.

While it's true the U.S. Government and taxpayers would end up subsidizing refinanced mortgages if the government receives interest that's less than it could by investing the money elsewhere, the costs of foreclosure - leading to bond defaults - leading to banking institution stress / systemic stress will undoubtedly be far greater, so says economist David H. Wang.