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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

> >The new much longer bailout bill fixed most of the flaws of the original 
> but
> added many more flaws of its own. 

I have burned some brain cells trying to understand the particulars of the 
bailout and how it is unfolding.

Have you ever had a wastrel relative who got themselves into a financial 
nightmare and then some of their kin make a one time large gift of cash to 
them in 
hopes of letting them start out with a clean slate.  Yet, turns out, they 
said to themselves, "We've struggled so long with no nice things for 
ourselves 
and now here we have this money...." so they spend it on a vacation, boat, 
new 
TV and there they are as poor or poorer than they were before.

The whole idea of the bailout was that if banks don't have money to lend to 
each other, the economy grinds to a halt.  So the first bailout money is made 
available to the banks and what do they do?   Pay large stock dividends (so 
the 
value of their stock will go up), raise CEO pay, and buy up smaller banks who 
can't get their hands on the bailout cash.

This prompted the administration to scream, "Quit hoarding cash!!"   

Not gonna happen.  All the presently available $250B is rapidly going down a 
rat hole with banks doing with it EXACTLY the same thing they did with their 
assets to begin with.