Hang on, now that it's passed, lots of bumpy roads lie ahead....

You have touched base on a couple of issues and while they are interconnected and related, they are not necessarily directly tied to each other and are not impacting each other in the way that the media is portraying it.

With respect to to the real estate market. I am a real estate Broker as well and have been in real estate for about 12 years. What is happening now is a natural part of the business cycle, especially the real estate cycle. The market was OUT OF CONTROL and out of control markets can never sustain themselves. Nothing out of control can ever sustain itself and the natural order of things swoops in with it's corrective measures to bring balance to instability which is exactly what we are experiencing in the real estate market at the present time. It is the natural order of the cyclical market. AN out of control rise inevitably leads to an out of control fall.

Lenders are lending, they are simply no longer lending to unqualified parties as it should have always been. I am preparing an article that includes this reality aspect of the market. Any qualified party can still obtain a loan. There are still 100% FHA loans out there, with only $100 down and even a few that will allow $5000 seller's concessions toward improvements and remodeling for QUALIFIED BORROWERS, meaning those with a good credit history, 2 year solid employment record - all things that were require before lenders blatantly encouraged unscrupulous lending practices.

Our government is broke. We have no cash. So in order to infuse the markets with $700 billion (it's actually 1.5 trillion if you total all the bailout packages to date) THE MONEY EITHER HAS TO BE BORROWED OR PRINTED. Additionally, the $700 billion is only an arbitrary figure that Paulson pulled out of thin air (he appears to enjoy creating things out of thin air) and most likely is only the first "installment" of several more to come. Many economists, including Nobel prize laureates, estimate the real bailout cost to be in excessive of $5 Trillion which includes the bailing out of FOREIGN Investment firms. Let that sink in. The American Tax Payer will be bailing out FOREIGN Banks with this bailout package that provided Hank Paulson with Dictatorial control over the nation's finances and monetary policy as monetary policy is directly related to the crisis.

The borrowing of such an extraordinary amount of money will further our ridiculous national debt and forever in-debt our grandchildren and great grandchildren. Our current Federal deficit of 11.5 Trillion is equal to about $37,500 due from each man, woman and child in the United States. That is the legacy you are handing down to your children and grandchildren.

If we can't borrow the money, then we must print it. Our currency is "faith" based and has nothing of value to back it up. The gold standard was dropped in 1971 and we've been operating on a "faith" based currency ever since. In reality, it has no more value than that of Monopoly money. The people's willingness to accept it as a means of exchange is where it derives it's worth and value. The printing of money, creates "inflation". The effect of this inflation is similar to a stock split where the total value of the stock remains the same, simply the number of shares increase thereby making each share worth less, and in the case of the dollar, rapidly becoming worthless. Inflation, in effect, becomes a tax because your dollars are worth less while your wages remain the same. So, you are paying out more and more, or more and more of your income is taken from you, hence the tax analogy.

The money generated from the bailout will directly benefit those at the top of the pyramid and will NEVER make it down to the common man. According to Bank of America, Goldman Sachs will be the single greatest beneficiary of all the bailout proceeds. The bailing out of AIG, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac directly benefited Goldman Sachs who held $20 Billion in toxic securities assets of AIG alone.

Henry (Hank) Paulson worked for Goldman Sacks and cashed out his $575 million of stock in order to take his current position. In addition, he earned $53 million in his last two years with Goldman Sachs, "for innovations such as a new line of "Mortgage Backed Securities." Gambling more than a trillion dollars on risky subprime second mortgages, Paulson cleverly converted them into AAA-rated "secure" investments by purchasing guarantees from the American International Group", according to a Global Research article (https://www.globalre search.ca/ index.php? context=va&aid=10433).

According to the same Global Research article, "...Wall Street has contributed more than $1.1 billion dollars to congressional candidates since 2002. Nine of the top ten House recipients of Wall Street largesse, who each received an average of $1.5 million, are on the financial oversight and taxation committees."

I posted an article about who received what from Goldman Sachs and it is worth noting that McCain received over $200,000 from Goldman Sachs and Obama received more than $600,000!

Again from the Global Research article, "Even more telling, the bipartisan Congressional "leaders" most responsible for pushing the bailout through Congress, Senators Dodd and Gregg and Representatives Frank and Blunt have taken almost $20 million from Wall Street sources during the last 20 years. Dodd recently received $6 million in contributions during his presidential primary campaign, and Frank has collected $720,000 this year."

You and me and every other average American citizen will never see a DIME of that bailout money and it will NEVER make it down to unfreeze the credit freeze. It will serve to protect the very people who created the crisis to begin with.

This entire bailout madness is nothing less than HIGH TREASON and a RAID on the National Treasury of the United States of America.

And, yes, you should be alarmed.

It will do NOTHING for the financial markets and if we do not immediately change our monetary policy, the dollar will crash and in your lifetime, in the not too distant future, you will witness the end of US sovereignty.

Yep, looks like we want to capitalize profit and socialize debt - a good deal for the wheeler dealers. The top end tax cuts plus a huge expensive war, being paid for by borrowing from the Chinese and Arabs, have left the government broke, while years of deregulation and "let them alone"(I forgot the French) has given the bright-but-not-too-ethical financial players free rein. AND, as even Barach says, we really have no choice. Hopefully this thing is structured so that when the now worthless securities recover their value, we will get the money back in the Treasury instead of someone's pocket, but who can tell because there are so many pages including a billion of pork tacked on by the Senate. By golly, we DO need a change!

Angie, I have often wondered why the US feels compelled to send
money to foreigh countries that then use these funds to buy weapons
to destroy us. It ridiculous. Giving handouts does not win hearts and
minds. I agree with you. We should keep that money to help our
own country first!

We need to have a re organizing of Governments priorities. Yes I know everybody promises that to get elected-but it never seems to happen.

to right yes i agree with you i saw they didnt pass the bill all are watching
i really hope it all comes good its a hell uv a worry for sure

It's confusing stuff. Anytime I ask someone I get a different story lol. But I like Hawkwoman's explaination

This subject is out of my field. Perhaps that's a good thing--less worry. I just go about my life as usual.

Angie, Relax. The worst that can happen is we will all be broke again. Not having money is easier to live with than not having friends, or not having sight, or not being able to walk. Remember the story, "Stone Soup" where everybody in the neighborhood brings one vegetable to put in the pot with the water and the stone? Maybe that will happen again.

In four generations we have gone from being an active social community to a community that lets ABC tell us to "Celebrate Stay at Home Week" during the prettiest month of the year. Our kids don't play with each other, they watch movies together, or play video games against each other, where they practice killing things and people. If the economy goes down the tubes and nobody can afford the newest video games, or replace the game playing machines our children watch, maybe they will learn to play with each other again.

Don't worry, pray. If you pray, you don't have to worry.

The plan is, in essence, saying: "We, the Government (i.e. US Taxpayers) will absorb these bad debts and alleviate pressure on banks so they have more capitol to invest in LEGITIMATE investments & loans." This means small businesses can take out loans to expand their business and make payroll and home buyers will be able to secure a mortgage to buy a new home. As for big business this allows them to stay in business and hopefully recover enough from making bad risky investments. The problem will be in making sure CEO's no longer get their free ride out of a company for making those investments.

The plan overall is, quite frankly, a sh*tty plan. It is merely a quick patch-up job to stabilize the situation until the next administration comes into office. Whoever wins the election will have a gnarly mess to fix and it will take AT LEAST 2-3 years just to figure out and another 4-5 to fix - if we're lucky.

My opinion: Let the banks fail. Sell the mortgages pennies on the dollar to those banking institutions who did not follow these disastrous practices, and PROSECUTE the CEO's of the failing institutions who made obscene amounts of money perpetrating this. This was so much more than bad judgement. It was greed and in many cases, downright fraud. They certainly never told their shareholders how much blank paper they were passing around.

I read that the thought is that "the people" don't understand the bailout issues properly and that's why the politicians think it should go through and the people don't.

I feel the same way about helping other countries when we are broke ourselves. This is affecting all of us in one way or another. Washington needs to get a h andle on the situation.

Sorry, but I don't understand it either. I completely agree with you in that we need to take care of those in our own country first! Money is sent abroad to help starving children in other countries, yet, we have many in our own country that are starving. I sincerely believe that we should help and take care of our own first.

I feel just as lost.

I think we all wish we knew the answers to those questions

I wish I knew....