We need a SMART VICE PRESIDENT not a smart ass for a Vice President.

Do you remember in Its a Wonderful Life, when Jimmy Stewart lost all that money and the people in the town whom he helped over the years supported him in his time of need, this feels like that now, but with some seriously big differences.

In the story Jimmy Stewart's uncle lost the money because Lionel Barrymore's character frauded him out of it. But because of how Jimmy Stewart treated the townfolk especially using his honeymoon money to stop the bankrun he earned their respect. When he needed help everyone was there to help him.

But it is so different now, Wall Street millionaire CEO's, the banks and credit card companies, Paulson and his buddies are like Lionel Barrymore's character Potter. They just want to fraud us out of a future.

If the banks and the government would have treated us like George Bailey for the last few years we would fall over ourselves to help. That is our nature as Americans.

Lilibeth
Edmonds, Washington

We can't fix this by shouting that "their" end of the boat is sinking. Many companies that need credit for working capital are already close to sinking. That includes GM and your local 25 person manufacturer. Unless some confidence building legislation is passed within days, the companies that employ us all and comprise the value in our 401Ks will begin to vaporize.

The bill needs to be reintroduced and passed.

This bailout is NOT about equity or any sort of moral sense of justice. If you want that, compel the courts to seize the assets of businesses that acted in an irresponsible and unscrupulous manner. It would be anti-capitalist beyond belief, but that would be justice. The bailout is about calming the economy, not some crazy venue for vendetta.

Start shareholder class action lawsuits against CEOs and all those involved in the lies covering up all the losses.

I too wish to preserve the capitalist system and keep it healthy. But it is now critically ill. By voting down this Bill today, the supporters of capitalism actually destroyed more capital (on the stock market) than the Bill is designed to inject. In other words, they made the situation worse, and have caused further deterioration in bank balance sheets. There action (or inaction) has in fact put the capitalist system at risk.

All those who support capitalism and a free market economy need to wake up and realize that this injection of liquidity is essential. Otherwise the entire economy could collapse, and could do so very swiftly.

A strong economy is an essential element of national security. If the economy suffers, America will be weaker abroad. And if the economy is weaker, foreigners will be less inclined to lend money to the US government - as did the Bank of Canada today, injecting $30 billion into the US Federal Reserve to provide it with cash.

If capital is not injected into the banks, numerous banks will fail. Depositors and shareholders will lose their capital. Businesses will go under because they cannot borrow. I cannot stress enough how important it is that some concerted action be taken. Indeed, in my estimation, the $700-bn is nowhere near enough - even more so after today.

So if you really want to preserve the American way of life, and the free market economy, I urge you to in turn urge your representative in Congress to support this Bill or some modified version of it. Not to do so will be extremely shortsighted and will have dire consequences.

I have never in my use of credit had the impression that should I default on my loans, that the government would step in to bail me out. Even when I had overwhelming debt after starting a small business, I didn't claim bankruptcy. I learned my mistakes and buckled down and paid down my own debt. In fact, bankruptcy, the scapegoat for unfortunate investments in the past, is now more difficult to rely on. As individuals, it's an even greater slap on the hand for taking a risk with investments.

I recall even a time of great personal difficulty, where my debt climbed to a point that caused the credit card companies to triple my interest rate when they thought that I had no way out. My debt to income ration had climbed slightly over 50%. That was their reason. I was paying on time and no negative hits to my credit.

Credit card companies are predatory. There is no secret there. Although I have no faith in receiving any compassion during my hardship, credit companies are now asking for compassion from me? Come on!

Bush is to blame for sensationalizing this in a two minute speech and running back into hiding. He caused a panic and caused further economic unrest. Based on his previous tactics, I do not put it past him or his administration, to cause panic so close to an election. It is too convenient and too close to a floundering McCain campaign to cause this level of an alarm so close to what McCain himself advocated was a "mental recession" and that we were a bunch of whiners. According to them, the economy was just fine. Their platform is flagrant and inconsistent.

I'm not falling for it. This is a short-term hit, and the only way out of it is not to entrust our faith into irresponsible and self-serving leaders such as Bush or McCain.

Oh, by the way, the people who actually understand how the economy works think we need to rescue the companies who bought the loans from all those collapsed banks. I'm with them. I remember the 1970's and 1980's. They were not a good time for citizens, or for American prestige & power. I have no wish to repeat that time.

Congress should know better. That's called honest leadership, something we've seenscant little of lately.