Well, not quite, there is still hope that the senate would bring it back to live some times later this week.
However, the collapse of Wachovia, the bank that could be saved if the loan programs have approved earlier, as well as the plunge of the major index around the world, clearly indicated that this is an issue that can not be waited…
How long will the politicians in Parliament Hill figure out that Americans do need to save Wall Street?
I am not saying the traders in Wall Street have done the right thing to use the money that they are not prepared to pay back, however, what is right and what is wrong no longer matters, because Wall Street is not only a financial hub of the world, it is, more importantly, the dominant factor of the US economy. If Wall Street fails, every ordinary American citizens would be affected, not just the traders or the investment bank executives.
Sometimes, I am wondering if democracy is really a great idea in time of crisis, because it is difficult to explain to every single individual (or even the majority) of the impact of certain things, not because general public are ignorant by any means, but rather we are specialize in different things.
For example, it is difficult to convince a farmer whose sole interest is to be able to sell the cattle he has raised that 2000 dollars from his tax money has to be given to the financial market.
He is probably really good with raising cattle, far better than the investment bankers could do, but that does not mean he could be educated enough to see the entire economy.
On the other hand, we can see that in the current milk-poisoning crisis, the Chinese government is spending taxpayers money to compensate the lose of the diary farmers.
This may be a somewhat authoritarian in the eyes of Americans, since every single Chinese citizen (or those who pay tax to the Chinese government at least) is basically paying for something that they have nothing to do with.
However, in this case, by ensuring the survival of the Chinese diary farmers, China has shown to the world that it is acting more responsibly, as well as more maturely, in time of crisis.
Which is very different from the irresponsible manner that the congressmen and congresswomen is showing ahead of the elections.