Bailout Blues

George W. Bush and Henry Paulson and Congress don’t seem like the U.S. Cavalry to me.

From Stock crunch deepens by Aaron Smith:

Stocks were in for a bruising Monday after a deepening financial crisis in Europe heightened worries about a global economic slowdown.

The S&P, Dow and Nasdaq futures - trading that gives an indication of how stocks may move in the early going - were sharply lower about one hour before the open. That followed a broad sell-off around the world on Monday.

Japan's Nikkei index plunged 4.3% to close at a four-year low. European indexes - the Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's Xetra DAX 100 and France's CAC 40 - were down about 5% as investors looked beyond the bailout, focusing instead on Europe's growing crisis.

"It's this fear factor ... continuing to grow," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist for Avalon Partners. "It's becoming like a cancer which is spreading all over the place."

From U.S. bank failures almost certain to increase in next year:

Here's a safe bet for uncertain times: A lot of banks won't survive the next year of upheaval despite the U.S. government's $700 billion rescue plan to restore order to the financial industry.

The biggest questions are how many will perish and how they will be put out of their misery, whether it's outright closures by regulators scrambling to preserve the dwindling deposit insurance fund or in fire sales made under government pressure.

Congress does what Bush and Paulson want, and things get worse. You guys are doing a heck of a job. Perhaps McCain needs to cancel his campaign, not just postpone it.