Who would you rather be in charge of the bailout? The President? Congress? ... Ill put my trust in Paulson, he and Bernake seem to be the only ones who have a clue as to what is going on and how to fix it.

I'd rather there not be a bailout: let investors like Buffett pick up $5B here, $3B there so that no one individual holds $700B in his hands.

Definitely, Paulson knows more about this than Congress. But Paulson has the perspective that comes with being a former Goldman Sachs CEO, so he might (knowingly or unknowingly) be biased towards helping out the banks too much.

Not only that, but the lack of "checks and balances" in the whole deal is shocking.

lostinthewoods I don't know if what you posted is a joke or not, but I'm going to assume you're serious

Paulson may know more than Congress about finance but it doesn't take a genius to see that the proposed bailout is just a scam.

The Swedes got into similar trouble in the 90s and they solved it the right way (a bailout with a fair return for the government): "Sweden did not just bail out its financial institutions by having the government take over the bad debts. It extracted pounds of flesh from bank shareholders before writing checks. Banks had to write down losses and issue warrants to the government.

That strategy held banks responsible and turned the government into an owner. When distressed assets were sold, the profits flowed to taxpayers, and the government was able to recoup more money later by selling its shares in the companies as well."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/business/worldbusiness/23k...

so you'd still rather put your trust into something without reading the fine details? Paulson isn't your uncle you know - not to mention both Democratic and (even) Republican senators are just pissed: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13789.html

If you're going to compare the US to another country you need to find a country of comparable economic size, complexity. I'll make it easy for you: there isn't one.

As for the bailout being a "scam", would seem to suggest that someone is flying off to Mexico with a bucket of cash. The reality seems to be that everyone is in for some pain. Companies have gone under, people have lost their jobs, and if the government doesnt act, its going to get worst.

that doesn't mean that what worked for Sweden wont work for the US. besides just in terms of common sense you don't just give someone money without being able to measure/keep track of anything along with a sizable return on investment

without any oversight whatsoever, a certain someone can technically go off to Mexico with 700 billion multiple times without anyone else knowing why or when

free markets self correct; if you're going to interfere with it since everyone has pain why not just bail out everyone then and not just Wall St? - hell even the auto makers need bailing out now