To me, the scary thing about all of this is that I don't think ANYBODY has a clue how to fix this. Even the experts are just guessing, although their guesses are more educated than mine. The bailout was one proposal. It failed. So now, they HAVE TO come up with something else. Allowing nature to take its course will fix it eventually but only after the rich become richer and all of the rest of us are living on the streets hoping somebody starts a bread line to feed us. I agree that giving a bail out to the people who are responsible for the problem stinks. But if nothing is done our economy will grind to a halt. It will effect not just those who invest in the market, but, eventually, every citizen of this country. When credit dries up, businesses fail. When businesses fail, people lose their jobs, their retirement accounts, their insurance, their houses, and everything else. With 50% or more of our citizens unemployed, which could happen, just how will any of us find a job? And with failed businesses and fewer people working, the government will not be able to collect as much in taxes so all of their fancy guarantees and programs to help people will not be worth the paper they're written on. I don't think this is an insurmountable problem but it is going to take some clear thinking and some cooperation between both parties and I'm not sure that is going to happen. I am very pessimistic at this point.