Economics

And On the Eighth Day, Congress Created a Bailout…

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From USA Today:

"We hope sometime tomorrow evening we can announce that there has been some sort of agreement in principle so that the only thing that will have to be done is to write the legislation," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "It is still a long way from completing it but we've made significant progress."

Aides worked late into the night, he said, and there are "probably 15 issues still left outstanding that senators are going to have to get together and resolve."

Here's hoping the free-market-oriented House Republicans stick to their guns.

Many House conservatives say they are against such heavy federal intervention. Under the House GOP plan, the government would insure the distressed securities rather than buy them. Tax breaks would provide additional incentives to invest.

House Minority Leader John Boehner on Friday released a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanding that "serious consideration" be given to the radically different proposal. "If such consideration is not given, a large majority of Republicans cannot—and will not—support" the administration's plan, Boehner wrote….

We don't have to rush in with the greatest advance of socialism in the Western world," said Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas and a backer of the House Republican proposal. "The only thing we have to fear is fear-mongering from the secretary of the Treasury."

Whole thing here.