American small business will feel the Bailout Blues

Our lawmakers have failed us again. They are incapable of separating their self interests in being re-elected from taking the bad medicine that is necessary to help free up the liquidity crisis. I am not for corporate welfare which to some degree is what this bill represents. However, without a bipartisan solution to free up the markets the Wall Street Big Guns suffering will be minor compared to that of the American people as a whole. The Great Depression was the result of a protracted lack of credit availability. Without credit businesses don't grow, especially small businesses. Working capital loans won't be made by the bank which results in small businesses having trouble making payroll especially if they aren't getting paid for their receivables. This will impact every 401K plan and pretty much everyone in America. Few business survive today on a strictly cash basis. Lines of credit are critical to the continued flow of capital and day to day business. Our president, our congressmen and women and our regulators are failing miserably to educate the public on how the market works and how closely Main Street is tied to Wall Street. Nobody is going to be happy about a $700 Billion bill - but it should not end up costing this much. In the end, the Government should make its money back from the assets purchased from the financial institutions. Its not like the assets are worth NOTHING, they do have value and their are buyers with capital awaiting the opportunity to buy. We need this liquidity injected in to the market. This needs to get done. Nancy Pelosi needs to talk more like a stateswoman than a partisan hack and Republicans need to swallow their distaste for corporate welfare and get this bill passed. Perhaps we should throw the lot of them out in November. I hate to think we'll still be waiting for a solution on November 4th. People are going to start putting their cash under the mattress. That's really frightening.