ARRRRGGG The rest of my post did not appear again. Here it is;

I don’t think there is anyone who can predict how this bailout plan will affect the credit markets on Wall Street or on Main Street. The case for the bailout implies that without it the credit markets will seize up and precipitate a world wide recession if not a depression. No one is saying that the bailout will turn the economy around, it will just avert disaster.

The best case with the bailout is the economy will probably continue to drift sideways if not down, unemployment rising, energy prices remain high, housing still searching for a bottom and inflation surging. If the prospect of a bailout has “created its own weather” and the credit markets still seize up then it will obviously be a failure. Either way anybody who votes against the bailout will be able to paint it as a failure and a waste of taxpayer’s money and then run against it as the election approaches.

So I think we know how this will play out today. They want this to pass before the Asian markets open tonight. This afternoon most House Republicans and those Senate Republicans who are up for reelection will find a last minute objection to the bill and vote against it. Congressional Democrats will face the prospect of passing the bailout with minimal Republican support or letting it fail and risking a market crash. Neither McCain nor Obama will cast a vote.

So no matter what happens Congressional Democrats will be lashed to the stinking corrupt corpse of the Paulson/Bush Administration and McCain and the House Republicans will brand themselves as populist heroes for opposing the bailout fiasco.

How will Obama play this today? Will the majority of voters who apparently oppose the bailout take it out on Democrats in November? Or will they punish Republicans for playing political chicken with the world economy?