[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/09/19/art.fed.reserve.gi.jpg caption="As much as $1 trillion could be needed to avoid a meltdown of the U.S. financial system. "]
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:
Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and members of Congress have quite a weekend planned.
They'll be behind closed doors hashing out this so-called "troubled asset relief program"… code name for really, really big bailout.
And while we're free to carry on with our regularly-scheduled weekend plans, rest assured we'll still be playing a pretty big role in this whole rescue plan... As taxpayers.
Secretary Paulson says the price tag for this bailout will be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.
But he is "convinced that this bold approach will cost American families far less than the alternative - a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets unable to fund economic expansion."
Wall Street seems to think he's right. As word got out yesterday stocks rallied, and when the plan was confirmed this morning, the explosive rally continued.
Time will tell if the celebration is premature.
Interested to know which ones made it on air?
Ben writes:
Bailouts are not a good idea, but if the damage that results from not bailing out certain institutions is truly going to be so much worse, then it's the lesser of two evils, and I guess we just have to swallow hard and do it.
Jane writes:
Yes, federal bailouts are great for the million- and billionaires who don't want to lose their shirts. For the rest of us who will be paying this bill for the rest of our lives, No! Won't someone help the middle class? Where is the outrage?
Jeff from Dunkirk, New York writes:
For at least 100 years, we've been told that regulations are bad for business. Yet every time we deregulate, the rich fire both barrels, and everyone else takes the bullet. So what's really bad for business?
Mike writes:
This is a horrible idea, unless you are the ones running the financial institutions being bailed out. At the very least, since this brain-fart of an idea is going ahead anyway, the CEO, board of directors, and all senior management need to be permanently barred from working in the financial industry. Oh, and all bonuses, golden parachutes, termination clauses, and such need to be disallowed or forfeited if the companies accept any Federal assistance.
Chris from Bradenton, Florida writes:
Why is it that we socialize losses and privatize profits? If these mega-companies were booming, don't hold your breathe that those profits would be dished out. But if they're too big to fail, the losses are thrown on our backs? Am I missing something?
David from California writes:
Federal bailouts are great for those getting bailed out, but not so good for everyone else. I sure wish the government would come along and bail me out from all my bad decisions so I could make a fresh start.