5 Reasons Pols Dissed the Bailout

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• No More Bailouts, Detroit or Otherwise: Learn the Lesson

  Dec 11, 08 12:41 PM CST
  Given the failure of the Wall Street bailout, to think doing the same for Detroit would help the auto industry and America in the long run is fantasy, Kevin O’Brien writes in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The only thing that will help is to feel the pain. “No more bailouts,” O’Brien writes. “Not for private industries. Not for states. Not for cities. Not for school districts.” More »

• Paulson Lost Some Cred

  Oct 4, 08 5:01 PM CDT
  Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson may have gotten what he wanted from Congress on the Wall Street bailout, but his performance in selling the deal left lawmakers with a sour taste, the Wall Street Journal reports. Many think his original proposal, which would have granted him virtually unlimited powers, and his conduct in the hot seat, were presumptuous. But no matter: “For a few months, he will be more powerful than the president,” said Sen. Richard Shelby, a bailout critic. More »

• Senate to Tweak Bailout —But not Much

  Sep 30, 08 1:39 PM CDT
  Senators are scrambling to revive legislation for the financial bailout after its surprise failure in the House yesterday, but must strike the right balance to attract new House votes without driving away initial supporters, Bloomberg reports. House Republicans want an expanded role for the FDIC in the bailout and for the SEC to assess the real value of the troubled securities before the government buys them.
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• Bailout Vote Shows Bush's Power Waning

  Sep 30, 08 6:56 AM CDT
  The bailout bill’s failure to pass the House—due in large part to defectors from his own party—demonstrates President Bush’s flagging influence in Washington, observes the Washington Post. Bush’s “biggest legislative defeat” as president, it highlighted his tendency to rely on alarmist rhetoric—repeated dire warnings to Congress that failure to pass the measure would be catastrophic—while delegating leadership to cabinet members.
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• Countdown to Failure: How Bill Unraveled

  Sep 29, 08 8:01 PM CDT
  As members of the House of Representatives cast their ballots on the $700 billion bailout package yesterday morning—the negative votes piling up even as the market plummeted—the Los Angeles Times was blogging. Kicked off by Majority Leader Steny Hoyer's final words to the House—"The alternative is nothing and that is not acceptable"—it took just over a half hour to go down to a defeat that surprised leaders of both parties.
  
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