l posed this question last week. Here is the best answer l got. Read and think about it..... update - congress just approved the bailout. from all numbers i've seen, the overwhelming majority of americans are against this, and yet they did it anyway. they are supposed to be OUR representatives. is that representing? what are we to do when we live in a country where we have no say? when our voices are not heard? where our politicians do whatever they want whether we are against it or not? we might as well live in a monarchy

l think that our congress did a good job. l think that over half the people heard $700,000,000,000 and said no. they did not even think about it. Our congress thought about it and decided what would be best for America

As our representatives, they often would do well by listening to the wants & desires of their constituents, but when there is a conflict between what the constituents want & what the constituents need, a good representative would prefer the latter. In regards to the $700 billion dollar bailout, l think congress acted in the best interest of it is constituency, with little to no regard for the desires of it is constituency.
l believe that they felt the consequence of doing nothing was far greater than any consequence of passing the $700 billion bailout. Most constituents looked at it merely in terms of the government taking $700 billion & giving it to the banks, but they do not consider that the banks r the massive credit arm of our economy, & if the credit arm of our economy freezes up, that would very likely create a situation with our economy unlike any most of us have ever seen. The great depression would no longer be called the great depression, just as World War 1 is no longer called ''The Great War''.

We gave up the right to complain about what ''they'' do to us, when we first went to them & asked them to ''protect'' us.

Why do not people see cause & effect?

We asked them to be our mommies & daddies, then r shocked when they do what they want anyway.

l know how unliked that bill was, but where was all the outrage when Congress gifted the ''poor people that lived like Kings but worked at McDonalds'' $300 BILLION in July?

Tell u what, l wrote them then, l was ticked. My husband & l bought a home $300,000 less than what the bank wanted us to spend. We researched & have common sense & we knew a crash was coming. The parts of our contract we did not understand, we paid an attorney and/or accountant to explain it to us.

While, l think this bailout will be a colossal failure, because of the true nature of the collapse & it is not all due to ''bad people it had to be done.

Our country spends more than it makes & we have to get that money from other countries. Well, our little fiasco with lose credit is costing other countries trillions of dollars in losses. If they would not have passed the bill, our total collapse would be eminent.

But really, in a year, l think it all will be for nothing. The federal reserve has done all in it is power (already sent over $600 billion to worldwide credit markets BEFORE this bill) to devalue the dollar to the point many of us may starve.

l know no one, or very few, believe this could happen, but happen it is, & will.

We shipped our economy to China & now have to pay more to buy the cheaply made crap bad.

Blame Congress & Bush all u want, but the truth is both parties have gotten rich off us & we did this to ourselves with our short attention spans & ''deserve it now'' attitude.

We once were great, but we handed the greatness over to a nanny government. We have exactly the country the majority have voted for.

As proof, we will go to the polls in November & vote back in the same people who did this to us.

Good luck to us all.

You're getting a little carried over here. Just do not vote for them when they're due for reelection.

As for the bailout, l do not have a personal opinion on it. But l think the congress people were afraid that the economy crisis would go further downhill if they did not do anything about it. They were under pression and they were faced with a decision but did not had much time to really think about it.

They r our representatives & they decided that it was in our best interest to vote yes on this bill. The last time it was voted no on the Dow Jones dropped over 750 points. This was right before the close so the market did not have a chance to rebound, but the fear was still there. Everybody bashed them for saying no, so this time around they felt like they had no choice but to say yes.

The truth is that they really were between a rock & a hard place. On one hand they really DO need to pass this bill, but on the other hand it wo not really matter. The problem is trillions of dollars deep & there is just no way they can save the economy. This economic crisis is much worse than most people understand & it will end our entire financial system.

I've been following it for four years now, & at first l was scared but then l realized it would be at least a few years off. Now l am scared again because it is almost here & l realize that the moves they r making now to stall the inevitable will only make sure that the dollar will be worthless when all is said & done. They r creating too many dollars to support our unbridled spending, & as a result our inflation will be sky-rocketing very soon.

When that happens various countries around the world that already hate the US will stop selling us their oil in exchange for worthless dollars, & everyone in the US who exercises their second amendment right will make our country a much scarier place. The only person crazier than a starving man is a starving man watching his family starve as well. Our representatives r just as scared of this scenario as l am, & they're trying to avoid it. They just do not see that it is inevitable, & neither do you.