House blocks bailout: Parties split within

Hooray for the Republicans and courageous Democrats who voted against it!!!
*
And shame on Boehner, Pelosi and the like for supporting it.

Thank, goodness! Congratulations to the members of the House, both Democrat and Republican, that had the spines needed to stand against this outrage. Power to the People. If McCain and Obama learn anything from this, let it be that we owe them nothing. They work for US! Now, let the games begin.

A report that to me is "Fair, Balanced and Unafraid! Thank you.

It's about time that Congress grew a backbone! Kudos to the Representatives who refused to be bullied into this plan.

The defeat of the bail out plan just proves that we elect politicians with a fairly low intelligence level. When they talk about not bailing out Wall Street because they made investments in risky mortgages - just who do they think HOLDS those same risky mortgages .... I believe that that would be the greedy average American that wanted the big house with little money down and an inability to really afford the same. The risky mortgages didn't start with the buyers of them - it started with the "Main Street" Americans.

The amount, 700billion is staggering..If every adult, 18 years and older, some 200 million citizens were to receive an equal share of 700 billion dollars. some 450K, the IRS would get some 200 billion in taxes, leaving almost 300K for every man and women to spend, or invest. Clearly this would make a huge difference.

These are not my numbers, rather I was given these. Wouldn't be incredible if they were true, and the Congress & Senate gave it to us, the people?

Kudos to the 2/3s of the GOP Congressman and the 40% of the dem Congressman that stood up to this give away. Let's hope they keep their backbone

Is there some way we can start a petition for the Senate and House to stay in Washington regardless of how long it takes to find a solution to this problem. I don't care if the fall break for campaigning is coming up, I want a solution to this problem, that is why we have elected them. I don't know if this bailout plan is the right one, but something has to be done and they are the ones that need to do it.
Let's tell them to stay in Washington as long as it takes!!!!!

I think the republicans had better be careful. While the American people wrongly or rightly, hold the republicans pretty much accountable for this crisis. The market now sits at about -600. Sure the people are complaining now...but wait till the market loses possibly 1500...then we'll see where they stand. If this is seen as a republican holdout and the market loses 20% or more.....this may be more of a problem.

I'm glad they voted against it, there is enough ill feelings against the government now without them bailing out the rich for their ignorance.

Interesting, Pelosi's words,

"It's a staggering figure.... $700 billion, a staggering number, but only a part of the cost of the failed Bush economic policies to our country,'' Pelosi said, blaming Bush for inheriting a budget surplus and turning it into a record deficit with " reckless economic policies.... "It's really an anything goes mentality, no regulation, no supervision, no discipline."

1. 2001-April, the Bush administration, in its 2002 budget proposal, asserted that the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is a "potential problem," and that financial trouble in these "Government Sponsored Entities," or GSEs, could "cause strong repercussions in financial markets."

2. 2003, autumn, the Bush administration pushed Congress to create a new federal agency to regulate and supervise Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

On 2003-Sep-10, then-Treasury Secretary John Snow, before the House Financial Services Committee, " We need a strong, world-class regulatory agency to oversee the prudential operations of the GSEs, and the safety, and the soundness of their financial activities."

On the same day, 2003-Sep-10, at the same hearing, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee Congressman Barney Frank (now chairman of the same committee) said in response, "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not in a crisis. The more people, in my judgement, exaggerate a threat of safety and soundness, the more people conjur up the possibility of serious financial losses, to the Treasury, which I do not see, I think we see entities which are fundamentally sound financially and withstand some of the disaster scenarios, and even if there were a problem the federal government doesn't bail them out. But the more pressure there is there, the less I think we see in terms of affordable housing."

The legislation the Bush administration put forward that day was blocked.

3. Alan Greenspan, 2005-Sep-17, to the House Financial Services Committee, on Fannie/Freddie, "Enabling these institutions to increase in size--they they will once the crisis in their judgement passess--we are placing the total financial system of the future at substantial risk."

4. Alan Greenspan, 2006-Apr-6, "If we fail to strengthen GSE regulation we increase the possibility of insolvency and crisis."

The same day, Democratic Senator Chuck Schummer, "I think Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over the years has done a good job and are an intrinsic part of making America the best-housed people in the world. If you look over the last 20 or whatever years, they have done a very, very, good job."

5. Senate floor, 2006-May-25, John McCain, "For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac... and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market... the GSEs need to be reformed without delay." In the Senate Banking Committee, the Fannie/Freddie reform legislation that McCain cosponsored, 100% of the Republicans voted FOR it, and 100% of the Democrats, including Chuck Schummer and Chris Dodd, voted AGAINST it. As we know now, Dodd received $133,900 in campaign contributions from Fannie/Freddie ( per opensecrets.org ), ranking #1 in Congress. Obama received $105,949 from Fannie / Freddie ( per opensecrets.org ), ranking #3 in Congress. Senator Obama was silent on this legislation.

6. 2008-Sep-25, former President Clinton indicated he AGREED with Fox News assertions that Democrats are responsible for failure to rein in Fannie/Freddie--Bill Clinton told ABC's Chris Cuomo that for years, Democrats have been "resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."

Everyone hates this bill, but we shall see very soon whether people really understood what they were so opposed to. I sincerely hope that the wise men in New York and Washington were being Chicken Littles. I am afraid for us all if their fears were fully justified.

The funny thing is to hear Pelosi, Frank and the lib media blaming Republicans for the failure of this bill. How utterly lame! Last time I checked, the Demagogues hold a majority in the both houses and can pass whatever they want without a single Republican vote. The truth is that, in very uncharacteristic fashion, many Demagogues bowed to pressure from their constituents when they realized that the Republicans weren't going to give them the political cover they were hoping for. Pelosi is a joke.

What are they thinking?

I need stress relief and congressional relief. http://www.bop-o-rama.com.

Both these guys need to get back to Washington and get their respective "houses" in order.

How much have we spent bailing out our disasterous policy in Iraq? Why can't we at least support our own economy?

What a joke. The Republicans are on CNN saying we were not be partisan, but we were upset that Nancy Pelosi gave a partisan speech. If they were real adults, they would ignore the partisan rhetoric and do what you think is good for the country - not let your feelings get hurt.

by not voting for the bailout congress, in trying to keep their jobs, have caused the economy to crash because no money for loans jobs will dry up and we are headed for a recession that will match or exceed the great depression!

Sorry to tell you this folks, it's not the Wall Street high fliers who are going to pay the price for this, everday americans will. How loud will you be cheering as our economy slips into the worst recession since the 1930's? How loud will you be cheering when you lose your job? How loud will you be cheering when your nest egg is worth a fraction of what you need it to be to retire? How loud will you be cheering when you are the one on the street?

Think that can't possibly happen to you? Think again. Think about it hard.

Many in both parties created the regulations that got us into this debacle.
What a bunch of sanctimonious losers!

OK. So....Lets hope that Paulson and Bush have a plan B.

Yea! When I lose money in the market no one gives it back to me. Why should it be any different for the fat cats and poorly run businesses (or households for that matter).

Facts not mentioned in the above article:

1. Democrats voted by a large margin FOR the bailout.
2. Republicans voted 2-1 AGAINST the bailout.

Way to go, House!

For all of you cheering that the bill was defeated, let's hope your employers don't have to lay you off because they can't get credit.

And that you can retire gracefully.

Maybe we should look at how Sweden handled a similar crisis.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/Columns/2361578/Article/index_html

this was not a bailout for banks, the rich or consumers. the intention was to injexct liquidity into the markets.

At last some common sense is found in DC! Here is a good start.

You watch. It's a setup. Obama will come to the "rescue" and "convince" (wink wink) enough of the Democrats to switch votes.

So if about 60 Republicans voted FOR the bailout, that means OVER 90 DEMOCRATS VOTED AGAINST THE BAILOUT.

What type of crisis is this when the Democrats leading Congress can't even get 60% of their own people to vote for the solution they praise?

It's ironic that Pelosi and other Democrats are blaming Bush for the crisis. It is the Democrats who pushed the Community Reinvestment Act in the late 90's and allowed these banks to take on the bad debt that they have today. I agree that the financial company's take some share of the blame since they are in the position of evaluating one's credit, however, it was the Democrats that pushed this notion of home ownership for low income families. Shame on Reid, Dodd, and Pelosi!

Did someone phone Obama yet? What a joke in leadership!

I am stunned that people can't do simple math. 700 billion dollars divided by 200 million people, is $3500/person. NOT 450000!!

No need to wonder how America got into this mess when simple everyday division is beyond most Americans!

The bailout bill went down to defeat 228 to 205. Voting yes for the bill was 140 Democrats and 65 Republicans. Voting no was 95 Democrats and 133 Republicans. Neither the democratic or Republican leadership could round up enough votes to pass the bill.

You can find all sorts of garbage on this particular commentary, on political websites, and on talk radio, regarding who is at fault:

Here's a scholarly, objective analysis from the Wharton Business School.

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1812

Probably the best, clearest, most credible analysis I've read to date.

Larry Weisenthal
Huntington Beach, CA

Anybody in congress that votes for this bailout, votes against our constitution they took an oath of office to uphold and should be removed from office. Our constitution does not promote or protect socialism.

It's so exciting to see congressional leaders "grow backbones" and make the easy vote to keep their jobs rather than support a controversial solution to our very real and current economic woes. I just can't wait to work through this recession but at least I'll get to weather it with the same yahoos in office.

To all those who applaud the Nay vote, be assured that your and my comfortable life style will soon disappear, and will be gone for many years if the flow of money does loosen. I lived through the Depression and it was no fun. Unemployment may not reach 25.4% as it did in the 1930's, but it will be much higher than today's 5-6%, and you will not even have the money to eat at McDonalds.

I'm sure you got some really nasty tasting medicine when you were a kid, but you did get well, didn't you! This also is some really nasty tasting medicine.

The notion of giving $300k directly to each adult is an intriguing idea but must come with the requirement that if the recipient has a mortgage, the money must first be applied to pay off any mortgage held or to refinance (if insufficient) and thereafter, (or if the recipient has no mortgage), then the money may be retained personally or better yet, perhaps require it to be a component of retirement/social security to thereby reduce the SS underfunding issues as well.

How did Obama vote?

Amazing that so many reps from both parties had the courage to vote no. Here's hoping it's the beginning of the end for the Big Bailout.

See ya all at the soup kitchen. We'll have a lot of time to talk about how great it was when Congress voted down the bail out. John W, can lead us all in a jolly chorus of "Brother can you spare a dime?"

Enjoy your moment of satisfaction it's not going to last. It's going to get bad people. Real bad for everyone. Republicans, Democrats, it won't matter.

The American people are scare, at one point we were doing OK, and now with all the rising prices of everything that has doubled, we cannot afford to pay our bills, mortage, put gas in our cars and shop for groceries. I don't think anyone even fills up their gas tank any more. Why can't our Goverment give us the people back our money, split it up between 18yrs and older so we can pay our mortages and pay back our bills, this will surely spark the economy, isn't it our taxes that the Goverment has been miss-managing for the last 8yrs. But instead they are forcing a very large amount of us to file bankrupcy, It's really not fare to us sitting and waiting for an answer to help the people. Why is it that Banks and Financial Instutions aways get away with miss magagment or only get a slap on the wrist, this has been happening for many many years. Hey you guys America is scare, help us the little people.

Patricia

I'm a bit shocked that this many house representatives have ignored the fact that US and now world markets are at risk due to the credit crunch. Credit Cards can be shut off or rates raised through the roof. You can't run anything anymore without credit. The problem was the spin giving this a flavor of helping Wall Street and no one else. Lets hope saner heads prevail here.

Seriously- do your own math.

"The amount, 700billion is staggering..If every adult, 18 years and older, some 200 million citizens were to receive an equal share of 700 billion dollars. some 450K, the IRS would get some 200 billion in taxes, leaving almost 300K for every man and women to spend, or invest. Clearly this would make a huge difference."

$3500/person. Now let's dole that out over the number of years this plan will be in place.

Hey Superior Bank failure:

Please note that all your evidence but the Clinton quotation is from the time that the Republicans owned the White House and both houses of Congress, so they were in a position to do something about it. And I think it's convenient the way that Clinton quote doesn't actually have "Democrats" in it--that you cleverly placed it immediately before the quotation; could Clinton have actually not said it the way you imply he did?

Pelosi must have an awfully short memory. Just a few months ago, Barack Obama asked for $845B in his Global Poverty Act.

According to some people, we can afford to give away $845B, but we can't afford to spend $700B to fix a problem.

One of the problems with this bailout is the fact it was a Bush plan and the Dems. attempted to fool with the edges and come up with a compromise the Republics would support.
It's failure is probably a good thing, though we don't really know that.
I think the best thing for the Dems to do is craft an all Democratic plan, forget about the bipartisan component.
Send it on up and let GWB veto it or sign it.
Problem with that, of course, are the Knights who say neyt in the Senate.

Ok, so this bill isn't passed - now what??? everyone who is against this bill should give us there solution to the problem we're facing. Well - what's the solution???

All I know is that my commercial real estate development business which has always paid back its loans is currently unable to borrow money and all our projects are at a standstill. Will somebody please tell me how that's good for the poeple I used to employ?

I am encouraged, delighted, to hear the House voted against this legislation. It is not the answer. It is the result of the privileged class's actions, where corporate greed has run amok and the nation and the world suffer the consequences, from which they should not be spared. I support letting the market heal itself as best it can. Paulson, of all, should not be administering any cure, as he is very much part of the problem. I am prepared to ride this out, whatever the outcome is, in hopes that in the end the old system will be replaced by something better, built with care over time.

To Tom Negele,

Before you get everybody in an uproar, you may want to check the math in the statement you made. $700 billion spread accross 200 million people is actually only $3,500. Not anywhere near the $450,000 in your post.

Don't care that those aren't your numbers. Use common sense and don't blindly believe everything you read.

Tom, its not $425,000. Its $425. Less than that so-called Economic Stimulus drop in the water we got earlier this year. Don't be bamboozled by what you read someplace. Do your own research.

Every storm cloud has a silver lining. In this cloud:
- Bush is defeated
- Bush's "legacy" is officially toast
- I will lose, but Bush's friends will lose much, much more
A fine day in America.

This was mislabeled from the start. It's not and never was a bailout. No one, least of all Wall Street execs, will come away with bundles of US tax dollars. It's a much needed effort to reliquify the US and world credit system which is currently is suffering from a near freeze. That hurts everyone, most of all those on Main Street, who will find funds for buying cars, running a business, or buying real estate is just unavailable. If you think that by voting down this bill, the nation is punishing Wall Street tycoons, think again. Voting it down only hurts the average American and damages this nation's position in the world financial system. It's not a great bill, but it's far better than doing nothing, which is where we are now.

Pelosi's lack of leadership continues...couldn't even lead 95 Democrats to vote for this...and while some libs love to blame the Administration, our system of checks and balances places this debacle clearly on the shoulders of the Democratically controlled, but obviously not led, Congress...love to see them continue to produce nothing from this Congress...vote Republican if you want the Congress to do something

Please tell Rahm Emmanuel that he is not the Speaker of the House.

Let's remember 95 democrats voted AGAINST the bill.

Both democrats and republicans got the US in this mess and now with her pulpit speech Pelosi is securing the democrats defeat.

95 democrats voted AGAINST this bill.

Will Nancy please address this fact?

Or was Pelosi aware that those 95 democrats would vote AGAINST the bill because they are up for re-election and Pelosi gave them the "nod".

Shame

"On Monday, Bush called the plan 'an extraordinary agreement to deal with an extraordinary problem in our economy.... a bold bill that will help keep the crisis in our financial system from spreading throughout our economy.'''

When was the last time we could trust ANYTHING he says?

WMDs?
Mission Accomplished?

January can't get here fast enough!

I love all of these way to go comments. Again, who do you think is going to suffer if markets tank and banks fail?

Hint: unless you have all of your savings stashed in a mattress, it's you.

Wall St execs haven't been invested in American markets in months. We are left holding this bag either way.

It's amazing that we haven't seemed to bat an eye at spending $1 trillion in Iraq, but balk at spending $350 billion to save our own investments. Let's hope there are investors out there willing to come in and save us. If not, we'll be paying a lot more for this than the bailout plan would have cost.

This legislation, while far from perfect will hopefully help all of those small local banks who were hit so hard by the collapse of Freddie & Fannie. Many of these small bankers must now hope that a large regional or national bank will help them out or they wil fail becuase the Treasury and Fed Reserve allowed them to hold investments in Freddie and Fannie just as they would hold US Gov't securities. Then the Treasury wlaks in and marks those investments as worthless causing many of the banks to be undercapitalized and subject to possible closure and seizure. If any one is happy about the international banks being rescued it their emplyees. For the rest of us, the small banks need to stay open or all we will have is three banks to chose from accross the country.

Try to obtain a loan from one of the these institutions where they want to have you only interact with an ATM.

We saved the banking industry from bad mortgages during the Great Depression. At least 80% of these loans were repaid in full and people were allowed to keep their homes and the US Gov't even made a small profit.

Now is not the time for posturing, now is the time for action. History will decide the heroes and fools.

I appreciate the fact that many here are pleased that this bill did not pass.. Are you all well aware of the affect this will have on YOU...Your employer may not be able to make payroll, and will not be able to find funds to borrow to keep you employed ... Is that what we want to see happen? Let Paulson and the people who understand the credit market, because they have built most of it.. PS how are are all odf your stocks doing? The market is down 500 points .. Hows your retirement ? ... I'm scared, politicians are idiots, they will find a way to kill this economy by standing on principal that will get them re-elected. You and I will be out of work/ on the street out of our house.. Pass the bill

Morons. This is the worst vote in the history of our country. It is too bad that we are letting the masses, who do not even know what a credit default swap is, decide the countries economic fate.

Everyone against this bill will soon be begging for it, when they learn they have lost their jobs, lost their life savings, and any chance at retirement or owning a new home.

Good work Republicans, you have made a blunder bigger than the war in Iraq.

Shame on you Average American for not understanding this bill, and the effects it will have on your career and lifestyle.

If you do not understand credit default swaps and T-Bill rates, than you should not comment on the passage of this bill. Something tells me that is 90% of people voting against this proposal.

c
Not passing this bill will be result in a terrible event for our country.

I equate this event to coming upon an auto accident where a car has been impacted on its side. An injured occupant has not been transported to the hospital because the driver of the other car is arguing over who is at fault and how much it is going to cost him! Meanwhile the poor occupant is dying in his seat!!!!

Why cannot our lawmakers see the peril they are putting our country in....The Democrats clearly want this failure so they can blame the Republicans for this event!

I am very upset with our Democratic "LEADERS". Just how many of the Democrats voted for and against--I am going to find out!

I'm a republican and couldn't be more disappointed in their votes today. Their willingness to risk us going into a depression ain't exactly "looking out for the taxpayer". I went short today and hope we fall off the cliff in the name of ideology. McCain just got buried today. Obama is a creep, but he'll be the next president.

Calm Down? CALM DOWN, says Boehner. How dare he? While he and the republicans sit on their hands and do nothing, we middle class americans are losing our shirts. If the free marketers are so stupid to not realize this, then I look forward to election day. Bye Bye Boehner. Bye Bye Kirk.

This is basically what happen in Japan in the 1990s. The result: over a decade o recession.

Why are people cheering again? Do they want a recession? Do they want to be unemployed? Do they want to lose their jobs?

http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2008/gb20080331_833526.htm

Let's talk numbers, the foreclosure rate, though in the rise, is less that 5% nation wide!!!
That means 95% of the mortgages on books are in good standing. Where is the toxity.
Of those 5% of mortgages that are in trouble, is it the $100K house that was given to the working class person with marginal credit, or the $800K mortgage that was given to the professional with excellent credit that poses the greater risk?

This is a bail out of Congress, the major but not only, cause of this sub-prime crisis. I think if the members of Congress would own up to what they did it would go a long way to helping America with this. Pelosi, Schumer, Dodd and Barney "Fife" Franks need to own up to their part. Bush needs to own up to his part. Then maybe we can all be comforted in that we will not be making the same mistake in 5 minutes.

In the end they only needed a few more votes why wouldn't a few more dems vote for it? Get it passed scream and yell that the Repugs wouldn't support the bill and move on.

IS the claim that they did enough by getting 140 votes really a good enough answer?

The dems' fingerprints are all over this issue. Ever since the early nineties (The last time congress and the president were both run by democrats) the dems pushed bad loans in a well-meaning but badly thought through effort to allow everyone to own a house. --Even those who could not afford them.
Now that housing value has fallen there is no way to cover the mortgage value of those homes when people who can not afford them default. We will all pay one way or another. It is sad that our congressmen (and women) have brought us to this point and then point fingers at each other. I say own the problem and solve it! We need legislators who will look out after our best interests and not their own.

Come on -- are you guys so warped by ideology that you can't see what's happening? Hoover tried several things to forestall the Great Depression, Rep. majority didn't go along with him. Reps. lost majority for two generations & FDR got lots of power.

140 Dems voted for it.

90 Dems voted against it.

230 Dem votes available.

218 need to pass.

The GOP votes weren't even required to pass this bill.

If Pelosi had any sway in her party, she could have passed it and thumbed her nose at the GOP.

But, she decided to turn this into a partisan issue and ended up turning off members of her own party.

The GOP didn't kill this bill; Pelosi failed to bring it to life.

Let the market bear what it will and do not bail out these culprits.

You people who are cheering the lack of a bailout are more ignorant than you comments! While I don't want my taxes spent on this anymore than the next they needed to be in order to stop a recession and possibly a depression. Have you no clue how the depression started in the 30's because the government refused to give Wall street money. They sat back and said it will take care of itself. The depression was not just in the US, but across the world you dolts. The same thing is happening now as bad as it is for the US foreign markets are feeling it worse. Also, do you remember how we got out of the depression? Oh that's right WWII. So you oppose the Iraq war now, you oppose a government bailout, and you support a depression and in 10 years WWIII. I hope you are cheering then.

This should send a message to the Democratic-led Congress that the majority of Americans oppose this plan. The last thing we need is to hand over financial instutions to the government.

Maybe if Nancy Pelosi didn't absolutely have to dig into the administration and assign it the blame for Fannie and Freddie failing then more republicans would have voted for it. Or even conservative democrats.

Can the Swamp find out how the Illinois delegation voted?

Bail out homeowners and trickle the money up to the banks. No foreclosure, and the bank is no longer holding bad debt. Won't this have the same effect of loosening up credit, but additionally save real people in financial trouble?

There should be no bailout. If there is a bailout we will be back in the same boat in ten years.

I say let the chips fall where they may.

What is this person talking about? I have done everything I can to never live pay check to pay check. I waited years to buy a so I could put at least 20% down. I worked my butt off.

I don't buy things I can't afford - I save for them.

The American people are scare, at one point we were doing OK, and now with all the rising prices of everything that has doubled, we cannot afford to pay our bills, mortage, put gas in our cars and shop for groceries. I don't think anyone even fills up their gas tank any more. Why can't our Goverment give us the people back our money, split it up between 18yrs and older so we can pay our mortages and pay back our bills, this will surely spark the economy, isn't it our taxes that the Goverment has been miss-managing for the last 8yrs. But instead they are forcing a very large amount of us to file bankrupcy, It's really not fare to us sitting and waiting for an answer to help the people. Why is it that Banks and Financial Instutions aways get away with miss magagment or only get a slap on the wrist, this has been happening for many many years. Hey you guys America is scare, help us the little people.

Patricia

Posted by: Patricia Gibula | September 29, 2008 3:10 PM

Ummm... Weren't Reid, Dodd, and Pelosi all set to announce a deal last Wednesday -- which was basically agreeing with the Bush plan? Then the House Republicans stepped in and said no way we are supporting this plan that bails out Wall Street execs and leaves Main Street Americans holding the bag? Nice spin from the Democrats! Is America really this stupid?

I love the quotes above where people take the $700B and divide by the USA population to figure out how much per person will pay. Folks, this is not SWEDEN, it is USA. That is, the wealthy pay for almost everything and 40% of all wage earners pay for nothing. In fact, they get money back from the IRS.

Want some numbers ?

The top 1% of wage-earners pay nearly 40% of all income tax received at the Treasury Dept. The actual number is 38.8%. You are in the category if you make $1.3M per year.

The top 20% of wage-earners pay 86.3% of all income tax received. You are in this category if you make $215k per year.

So WHO'S MONEY are we saying we're spending ? YES, it's YOURS, all 13.7% of it unless you make $215k per year.

(Source for these numbers, US Congressional Budget Office, Effective Historical Federal Income Tax Rates, 1979 to 2005, study released December, 2007.)

Pelosi, stop blaming everything on Bush. You and your cohorts failed to see the threat coming. What were you doing all this time.. I know what you were doing... you were busy holding committee meetings and hearings to attack Bush. Instead of showing the country how effective you can be.

How did Obama vote?

Posted by: ken cook | September 29, 2008 3:06 PM

...hasn't gotten to the Senate yet....the article DOES say that, we do know Obama IS a senator, right?

It's funny how the Democratic leadership led by Reid and Dodd just last week claimed they were ready to pass the Bush bill with a couple of minor revisions. Now they are in an upheaval because even their own party can't support it. What a joke, Reid, Frank, Dodd, and Pelosi!

Pssst... Did anyone call Obama?

Ken Cook,

Obama is not in the house of representatives, so he would not vote on this.

For everyone who has a snide comment on who is at fault for us being in this predicament or who is applauding the Congress for having a backbone on this legislation... I'm waiting to hear your big idea on how to reduce the pain that this mess will cause. I know, it's not your job to come up with a solution. Of course it isn't, but you'd better understand the consequences of inaction if that's what you support. My guess is that you don't understand the problem at all. Not one bit. I don't care who you are or what you do, you WILL be affected by the aftermath of this entire mess.

Hooray for the House's sudden-found backbone!
I didn’t think there was any left in the capital.

For the above nay-sayers: if passed, this bailout is NO guarantee that our "financial system" will be saved anyway. Newspaper articles say again and again that the economists say this bailout has to take place, BUT inside the same newspapers and all over the internet we see economists who are equally adamant in reviling this "fix" as a non-guaranteed solution that may bring even bigger problems down the road. My husband and I are in our sixty's. Of course our retirement savings have taken a hit and may take even larger hits. Of course this could be as big or bigger than the Great Depression. But you know what? People survive. Horrible things happen. People live through them. And life goes on.

AND we have to keep coming back to the fact that NO ONE has offered any quarantee that this bail out attempt will work.

THE MARKET WILL CRASH
DON T TRY TO STEAL MONEY FROM THE PEOPLE
WE NEED A NEW GOVERNMENT
THIS ONE HAS FAILED

Our Democratic Republic actually, at times, works! Amen.

I, like so many others, called my local house representative earlier in the day - Rep. Charlie Dent, for the District comprised of Lehigh and Northampton Counties in PA, to voice my objection to the flawed bailout plan.

To my pleasant surprise, Congressman Dent voted against that flawed bill. I called his D.C. office back to thank him for his support of the taxpayer.

The worse thing that could be done is to pass a bill that will haunt us and our children over the years to come. It's time to start thinking of the long term, and not the expedient short term results. Chalk this small victory as one for those of us who pay taxes and care about our legacy.

GRAB YOUR CASH IT S GONNA CRASH DO DA DO DA

Rod Martin...did you even read the article? The Democrats were the ones who gave it the votes it had. The Republicans were the ones who voted overwhelmingly against it. What are you talking about?

It is frightening to see all the joy expressed on this board over this disastrous vote. This was NOT a display of spine - it was a display of spinelessness.

The members of the House who voted today to slash YOUR retirement savings to a fraction of their current value know that their own congressional pensions are quite secure. The members who voted to sacrifice YOUR job know that their own jobs are secure as long as they continue to cater to the uninformed fears of some constituents.

They ignored the best interests of the country in order to save their own skins in November. The members who voted against this bill are little better than traitors.

So now, tell me, all you geniuses who applaud this vote - what is YOUR plan? What do we do now to stem the cascading economic collapse that is to come? You naively think this will only affect the people who made the bad loans and the people who took them, but it will affect alll of us. No credit, massive layoffs, reduced tax revenues, reduce government services, 401(k) accounts worth pennies on the dollar-
tell me, how does this crisis get solved now?

COWARDS! COWARDS! COWARDS ALL! Just when you think the US Congress can't get any more irresponsible they display a new low in political courage.

I hope all you fools who are cheering today are still this happy at the end of the week when you open your 401K statement and see that your retirement fund has dropped 20% or more.

I hope your paycheck doesn't bounce or you weren't counting on a student loan. I guess we'll see if your still cheering when you're laid off in a few months.

I think a lot of people are of the opinion: "Gee, I wish I had been so reckless that I can get bailed out by the government".
Face, the majority of people who are facing foreclosures are ones who should NOT have been given a mortgague in the first place.

"How did Obama vote?"

This was a House vote, not a Senate vote, so neither Obama nor McCain were part of the vote tally.

WHAT GOVERNMENT
FOR THE PEOPLE
BY THE PEOPLE
YA RIGHT

John McCain and others warned of this back in 2005. There was even a Bill but the Democrats voted it down. Not enough fat in it for the fat cats I guess.

Alan Greenspan warned of problems also, but no one listened to him either in Congress.

What happened to the Democrats delivering on this vote -- 90+ of them voted against it. They could have carried it without the Republicans -- what's wrong Pelosi?? Can't you deliver??? Moey

Wall Street=Main Street=USA

Point fingers all you want, but today there's blood on the street.

Get Frank, Dodd,Pelosi, and all the other crooks out of congress

I thought the dems were in control??? Seems they can't control their own stinkin party votes needed to pass the bailout bill. The merits of the bill notwithstanding, this is a failure of House leadership.

Hey, folks, let's remember that the Congress voted THIS bill down. That in no way means we won't see another version of the bill.

Maybe it will be smaller or have even more restrictions or deal with very specific types of assets instead of being so broad and involving so much money!

Kudos for Congress listening to the flood of feedback they got regarding this - and also for not rushing it!

It's not the end of the world - at least not yet!

It turns out we had a little more time than the Bush administration was saying - imagine that.

I liked the changes made to this bill. Now lets find a better one that can get passed and use some of the money to create jobs fixing the infrastucture and maybe creating a capital expansion loan program. Bypass the banks, altogether.

I don't mind a recession as long as we are taking the proper corrective actions to expand the economy. And I don't mean artificial growth created by cutting up assets into collaterized debt obligations. I mean real things like reducing the deficit..

I don't know where these numbers that are being put up on the web about each person equals 400+ thousand compared to the 700 billion bail out, but ... simple math = total bailout / total population?

When adding up all of the bailouts since 1971 (including the supposed bailout of $700,000,000,000.00)

bailout $1,243,850,000,000.00
dived by
population 227,719,424

it equals $5,462.20 per person ...?

I am totally against the bailout but do not want misleading information to be used against us.

Sex and Age Population Estimates July 1, 2007

.18 years and over 227,719,424

All bailouts since 1971 and % of total of all bailouts ... note the amount after 9/11/01

1971 - Congress saves Lockheed Aircraft Corp., the nation's biggest defense contractor, from bankruptcy by guaranteeing the repayment of $250 million in bank loans. $250,000,000.00 0.02%

1979 - Congress and the Carter administration arrange for $1.2 billion in subsidized loans to bail out automaker Chrysler Corp., then the nation's 10th-largest company. There was no significant cost to the government in the end since the loans were repaid. $1,200,000,000.00 0.10%

1984 - Congress effectively takes over the ailing Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust, which failed with $40 billion of assets. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. injects $4.5 billion to buy bad loans.
$4,500,000,000.00 0.36%

1989 - Congress establishes the Resolution Trust Corp. to take over bad assets and make depositors whole. Resolving the S&L crisis takes six years and $125 billion in taxpayer money - roughly equal to $200 billion in today's dollars. $200,000,000,000.00 16.08%

1998 - The government brokers a $3.6 billion private bailout in the collapse of the Long-Term Capital Management hedge fund, although no government money is involved. 0.00%

2001 - Congress authorizes $5 billion in cash after the Sept. 11 terror attacks to help shore up the airline industry and follows up with $10 billion in loan guarantees. $15,000,000,000.00 1.21%

March 16 - The Federal Reserve agrees to guarantee $29 billion of Bear Stearns' assets in connection with the government-sponsored sale of the investment bank to JPMorgan Chase & Co. $29,000,000,000.00 2.33%

July 11 - Federal regulators seize IndyMac Bank's assets after the mortgage lender succumbs to the pressures of tighter credit, falling home prices and rising foreclosures. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says it will cost about $8.9 billion out of its $53 billion insurance fund. $8,900,000,000.00 0.72%

Sept. 7 - The Treasury Department seizes teetering mortgage finance institutions Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, temporarily putting them in a government conservatorship with plans to inject up to $100 billion into each. $200,000,000,000.00 16.08%

Sept. 16 - The government announces an $85 billion emergency loan to rescue American International Group Inc., a major insurance company, in return for a 79.9 percent stake. $85,000,000,000.00 6.83%

Sept. 19 - The Bush administration proposes a plan to let the government buy $700 billion of bad mortgages and other forms of toxic debt that have been weighing down U.S. financial companies. Government officials and lawmakers were still scrambling to put a deal together a week later. $700,000,000,000.00 56.28%

Sept. 25 - The Federal Desposit Insurance Corp. seizes Washington Mutual Inc. - the largest bank to fail by far in the U.S. - and sells the deposits and banking assets to JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $1.9 billion. 0.00%

TOTAL OF ALL BAILOUTS
1971 - 2000 $205,950,000,000.00 17%

SINCE Sept. 11 2001 $1,037,900,000,000.00 83%

SINCE 1971 $1,243,850,000,000.00

TOTAL AMOUNT OF BAILOUT PER PERSON 18 AND OVER
$5,462.20

Note: The April 1, 2000 Population Estimates base reflects changes to