Just wondering, if we buy up all that bad paper, can we use it to find out who the real culprits were?

Seriously, a retrospective investigation into the how and where and why (and mostly who) of this debacle might be in order.

And would any of those bonuses paid for writing those bad loans be recoverable?

Also, from a post at KOS, considering the actual dollar amount of the bad mortgages equals about 300-400 Billion balloon bucks,  where's that "other" 300-400 billion going?

At least McCain's got experience with that frantic dispatch...  considering his track record with flying machines and other management decisions, if he ever sat down at the helm of AF1, the SS would arrest him for threatening the life of the President...

After Obama's call this morning, McCain's staff knoew the choices were limited... either accept Obama's lead, or stab him in the back. Because if McCain had refused, when the news that Obama had reached out to McCain hit the media, and McCain said "no" the leadership thing would be all Obama's. So Mccain took the only low road Obama left him, and now that the cable news people have tapped McCain as the hinge vote and the REepublican influence here, he's got to balance the wingnuts with the fiscal conservatives again, which he isn't handling very well thus far. the VP choice of Palin was a bit too "balanced" towards the wingnuts...

and McCain went public as if it was his idea...

Will the public get this info from the MSM, or does it even matter?

for a week, or until the economic bailout debate has been debated.

If the media picks this up and labels it "leadership" Obama needs to willingly join McCain in DC, but don't stop the campaign, let the surrogates (non-congressional) keep the appointed campaign rounds.

A curious thought entered my tin-foil lined head when I heard one of the Bushies mention that there have been Wall Street bailout plans on the back burner for months...

So, what is this bailout, really? Did McCain's poll numbers, which started falling shortly after the Palin bounce went flat with every demographic but Bush's brainwashed base,  spark the bailout plans into actual action rather than speculation?

Seems curious, doesn't it, that they've been pondering such a move for so long,  and now they pose it as "imminent?"

Are these billionaires just protecting themselves from becoming simple millionaires?

wbtm (which brings to mind)
...Did you hear the one about the Texas oilman who introduced George W. Bush to his pals as "the fellow who made me a millionaire..."

What were you before? asked someone of the oilman..

"A billionaire..." he replied.

Still looking for an answer, or at least an opinion..

Who will get the lion's share of that bailout cash?  the mismanagers who created this mess in the first place, or the public whose taxes are paying for the bailout?

As the story unfolds, it would be  nice to see some pie charts defining the distribution of funds and just what influences the metabolism those avenues of dispersal and how their inevitable recipients deserve (or not) their tax-money booty...

Seriously, as it stands now, it is hard to see the homeowner as the beneficiary here.

And for those safe investors and good-mortgage owners who resent the bailout as a payoff to careless borrowers, keep in mind, for every house you help save from foreclosure, your own home values climb a few points.

So, if this tax money actually makes it's way to the real Estate bottom where it will do some good, it only helps the careful homeowners.

Once the maelstrom subsides, there will be time to correct our oversight oversights, but for now, we must do whatever possible to re-establish the property values of middle-class homeowners.  That equity is the foundation of our entire economy, and has enriched the entire world before it was tyurned into another negotiable tool by Wall Streets 7-mansion owners.

The wealthy just don't "get it."  Their own future wealth, especially any growth in that wealth,  hinges on the success and expansion of a fledgling 21st Century middle-class consumer model, and that middle class puts their primary value in their homes, not their stock investments.

 Anything that diminishes that home value diminishes "value" generically.