OK, suppose that the bailout cannot forestall financial disaster.

[Jackpine Radical]

Imagine that, no matter what response Congress makes, it's going down.

And suppose you know that.

You're Obama. What do you do? The "right" choice is to do nothing, to let it fall since any attempt to halt it would not only be futile, but ruinously expensive, and would be money no longer available for you to use to cushion the country after the crash.

But if you get identified with that choice, you go down because, no matter what the reality is, everyone will believe that the crash occurred because of your inaction.

On the other hand, if you push the bailout and the system still crashes, you will be blamed for having just given a lot of money to the undeserving fatcats who brought the problem on themselves, you will be hurt as a result.

In these circumstances, the best thing to do would be to propose a third alternative, even if you know it won't pass, and even if you know that it, too, is doomed to failure.

Then, when Congress does one or the other, and everything falls apart, you can say, "But if you guys had only done what I said, this wouldn't have happened."

[billyoc]

1. Dow's up 250. Paulson and Bernanke apparently remembered there are other things they can do.

:eyes:

[Jackpine Radical]

3. I expected it to go up 350 today.

Bargain hunters.

[wtmusic]

6. Day isn't over

or the bloodletting, for that matter. Nevertheless, it's a good time to buy.

[TexasObserver]

2. It's called waiting for a public mandate.

Democrats, especially Obama, should wait until there is a public mandate to pass a bailout bill. He's gotten far out in front on this bill, and needs to wait until the public wants it. They clearly do not want it YET.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. That's probably right.

[TexasObserver]

5. that is my primary objection to the bill - lack of public demand on Main street

I don't care that much that the bill will not likely work. I do care that it help Bush artificially maintain higher markets while he limps out of office. THAT is the real reason for this bailout - to help Bush limp out of his term and dump the big stock market loss on Obama.