I could be wrong, but the sense I got from the hearing is that
the bailout is a foregone conclusion, and at this point its just a
matter of working out the details. Congress doesn't have the guts
to do nothing, because they don't understand what's going on and
they don't want to be blamed for a depression if the doomsday
warnings of Paulson and Bernanke prove accurate. They also know
that they'll have a lot of constituents who will be mad as hell
about the idea of aiding big banks that made poor investments. So,
by grilling Paulson and putting on a show for the cameras and
making him work for the money, they'll be able to say that they
didn't simply fork over the $700 billion, no questions asked. And
Democrats will fight for concessions -- oversight, executive
compensation restrictions, homeowner relief -- that they can use to
justify their vote for the plan. But the language the Senators used
in their questioning gave off the general impression that everybody
is assuming some sort of bailout package will be happening within
the next week.
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