Back in September, Hank Paulson urged swift passage of the now $810 billion bank bailout bill by citing heavenly retribution if it did not pass. Paulson succeeded in getting his money. But after spending nearly $300 billion there's scant evidence that it's helping. Congress was clearly wrong to put its faith in Paulson and it should cancel the plan and replace it with one that clearly defines the problem and demonstrates how the plan will solve that problem.

One piece of good news is that the London Interbank Offered Rate (Libor) has declined from 4.82% to 2.15% -- but lending still remains extremely tight. And it's possible that other programs, such as the Fed's plan to purchase $50 billion in commercial paper (CP), contributed to that Libor decline rather than Paulson's. Even more outrageous than the failure of Paulson's plan to fix the problems is that there is nothing to stop our money from paying $26.6 billion worth of banker bonuses.

Given this colossally wrong-headed plan, how did Paulson get his way? Not surprisingly, Congress has a weak understanding of economics and global finance. According to a Washington reporter I spoke with last month, Congress approved the Paulson plan because it believed that the former CEO of Goldman Sachs Group (NYSE: GS) must have known what he is talking about. They believed that if he was advocating a reverse auction plan to buy toxic waste that it must be the right thing to do. Unfortunately, faith is not a strategy.

Remember Hank Paulson's $810 billion program to save the world? It started off as a plan to buy toxic waste from banks. But as soon as it was passed, it changed into a scheme to buy stock in big banks -- some of which, like Citigroup (NYSE: C) -- are hugely unprofitable. This makes no sense to me -- I prefer cull and capitalize. With the election behind us, there's a chance to put some teeth into the plan by making sure that banks lend the money -- or refund our investment.

So far, the program has spent $159 billion for shares in 24 banks. But how are the banks using the money? Is it to make loans? No -- too risky. Is there anything stopping the banks from using it to pay bonuses? No. In fact, even if they don't use the cash from the Treasury's investment check to pay the bonuses -- our money will free up cash that would have been used for other purposes to pay those bonuses.

So how much of our money will bankers get this year? Well they received $33.2 billion in 2007 and forecasts are that they'll get 20% to 35% less -- or $26.6 billion -- for 2008. That's $147,556 for each of the 180,000 individuals who worked on Wall Street in 2007 (the number is lower now after layoffs).The banks created fake profits but they're getting huge bonuses. How so? Over the last couple of years, they reported $305 billion worth of profits but those have been wiped out by $323 billion in bad loans they charged off.

The stock market may continue its record-setting plunge today as the drumbeat of negative sentiment drowns out what little good news there is to be had.

Markets in Europe and Asia were sharply lower as fears of a lingering recession continued to heighten. Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso told members of Parliament that the U.S. bank bailout was "insufficient" to quell the fears of investors, according to the Associated Press. Meanwhile, the government of Switzerland is pumping billions into ailing UBS AG (NYSE: UBS) which gorged itself on mortgage-backed securities. Oil prices also fell to a 14 month low is Asia. U.S. stock futures were mixed.

Here is a look at other stories which may interest investors.

• Merrill Lynch & Co. (NYSE:MER) reported its fifth straight quarterly loss including write-downs of at least $9.5 billion. Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (NYSE: BK) reported a 53 percent drop in third-quarter earnings. Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) reported $13.2 billion in credit losses in its earnings because of reserves for bad loans and writedowns for mortgage-related securities.
• Continental Airlines Inc. (NYSE:CAL), Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) and Nucor Corp. (NYSE: NUE) are among the other companies reporting earnings today.
  
• eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) gave a disappointing outlook yesterday after posting better-than-expected earnings. Its shares tumbled.
• FDIC Chair Shelia Bair criticized the federal government for not doing enough to help homeowners facing forecloseure.

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) is looking like a winner. Although its net income fell 24% to $1.64 billion; its 49 cents a share beat what analysts expected by 6 cents. And the better news is that Wells' competitive position is improving in this down market. July's failure of IndyMac Bancorp and September's Washington Mutual collapse let Wells Fargo gain deposits and borrowers.

Its revenues grew, but so did its credit losses. Wells Fargo's revenues rose 5% to $10.38 billion and it increased its allowance for credit reserves by an additional $500 million to $8 billion. Since the government decided to invest $250 billion in bank capital, the world will be split between winners and losers. Wells, which got $25 billion of that, will benefit as depositors and borrowers flee the firms that did not get enough of our money.

Its third quarter performance suggests that it will be among the winner's circle that will gain market share.

Peter Cohan is President of Peter S. Cohan & Associates. He also teaches management at Babson College and edits The Cohan Letter. He owns Wells Fargo stock.

The quarter is winding down, and here are some highlights from this past week's earnings coverage from BloggingStocks:

• Air Products & Chemicals Inc. (NYSE: APD) lowered its guidance for the current quarter.
• AutoZone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) missed Q4 earnings estimates despite a modest increase in profits.
• Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBY) reported disappointing Q2 results that met analysts' expectations.
• Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) faces earnings declines if the Paulson plan fails, says Jim Cramer
• Circuit City Stores Inc. (NYSE: CC) earnings declines finally led to the ouster of CEO Schoonover.
• Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) beat Q3 expectations despite charges and reserves.
• General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) lowered its Q3 and full-year forecast due to financial sector woes.
• KB Home (NYSE: KBH) reported a greater-than-expected loss for Q3, and yet shares rose.
• Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) posted significantly smaller Q3 losses on cost cutting.
• McCormick & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MKC) topped Q3 expectations due to the sale of a brand.
• Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE) posted better-than-expected Q1 results despite a decline in net income.
• Research in Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) posted strong Q2 results accompanied by a weak forecast.
• Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) Q2 net loss more than doubled and revenues were flat
• Secure Computing Corp. (NASDAQ: SCUR) missing estimates didn't stop a deal with McAfee (NYSE: MFE).
• 3Com Corp. (NASDAQ: COMS) Q1 results topped both analysts estimates and previous guidance.
• 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) faces significant earnings declines if the Paulson plan fails, says Jim Cramer.

Also, are analysts' expectations for the the coming year too optimistic?

Upcoming quarterly reports include Circuit City (NYSE: CC), Walgreen (NYSE: WAG), Pepsi Bottling Group (NYSE: PBG), Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), Marriott International (NYSE: MAR), Family Dollar Stores (NYSE: FDO).

Visit AOL Money & Finance for more earnings coverage.