The arguments on both sides have validity.

No one wants the taxpayers to suffer, but we do. The plan has a chance to turn out well - if the government doesn't overpay for these bundles of 'who knows what.'

No one wants those who over-leveraged and over-gambled to get away with their nonsense. But, if we don't bail them out, we may be worse off. The problem is we don't know whom to believe.

But what troubles me most about the deal is that I don't see how we can trust Paulson or Bernanke to have the integrity, let alone the intelligence, to serve the taxpayers well. They must begin by paying fair market value - and not a penny more for those mortgage securities.

One of our local 10 news anchors asked the viewers Monday night: What's the cause of the crisis/disaster/fiasco (insert your favorite term here)?

I believe the proximate cause is Chicken (Little) in Chief (AKA the CiC) and his minions (Paulsen, et al) crying, "The sky is falling! It will fall and the world will end if we don't get my bailout plan agreed upon by Monday morning." This necessity for immediate action was agreed upon and repeated endlessly by most of the pundits and many politicians. What they did was to create a self-fulfilling prophecy, guaranteeing that if Congress did not roll over and play dead for him, the crisis would manifest itself; thus the 777 point Dow drop. Of course, we can now expect the CiC or his henchmen to now start saying "I told you so. See, the sky did fall."

The real causes of the current crisis go back several decades. The S&L bailout set the precedent: Screw up big enough and the government will bail you out. And like a benevolent (malevolent) parent, helping most of the guilty avoid the full consequences of their actions. Weak government oversight, inadequate checks and balances, increasingly rancorous partisan politics, and Wall Street's most prominent feature, raw naked greed, set the stage over decades for the house of cards to collapse, as it appears is happening.

I agree that some action is necessary, and Real Soon. But what was so special about 9/29? Yes, the Congress wants to go home so they can campaign to preserve their perks and pork, and return to Baghdad on the Potomac in January.

Yes, something needs to be done, and soon. But not in panic mode. And I fervently believe that whatever happens should a) benefit taxpayers, credit card holders, mortgagees, etc. by limiting predatory lending practices, exorbitant fees, and so on, while providing equity in any companies that are helped; and of course, stabilizing and possibly even lubricating the flow of credit.

Listening to the CiC and the other panic-mongers since last Friday, I thought to myself whether our leader had ever sold encyclopedias door to door in his youth. You know: Have I got a great deal for you. This lovely set of (financial) books will only cost you $250 Billion now; of course, there may be more payments later. But you (Congress) have to act today to get this special price . . .