An Unbelievable Can Of Worms

From What $700B can't buy: a crystal ball by Michael Oneal and Mark Silva:

Global financial markets will open Monday morning likely with the knowledge that Congress and the Bush administration have come to terms on their slapdash $700 billion attempt to arrest the nation's economic crisis.

What they won't know—because nobody does—is whether the most dramatic government intervention since the Great Depression will solve the problem.

Few doubt that clear and decisive action by Washington is crucial to restoring a measure of confidence in frozen credit markets.

But even many of the math PhDs and finance whizzes who dreamed up arcana like "mortgage pass-through certificates" and "collateralized debt obligations" aren't sure how the government's plan can hack through the complexity of the 21st Century financial system.

"What's the government going to buy and what are they going to pay? There's no clarity on any of that," said Rich Berg, chief executive of Chicago-based Performance Trust Capital Partners LLC. "This thing is an unbelievable can of worms."

Read the rest here.