Ok, I am making it official. I am against the bail out.

I've been waivering on this for some time. I was initially buying into the fear that if we don't shore up the banking systems our whole economy would collapse.

But as time has gone on it looks to me more like the American People are being blackmailed into this deal

What clinched my decision however was that the Bill that passed the Senate was actually more than the initial $700 Billion requested. It contains some $150 billion in pork for a grand total of $850 billion.

I would have expected House Republicans to balk even louder since they opposed the previous bill on the principles of fiscal discipline and protecting the American Tax Payer. But no, with the added pork and sweetners they are now attracted to the bill like flies to shit.

If the problem truly is that Banks hold mortgage backed securites that have lost value due to home foreclosures thus freezing their liquidity preventing them making loans then to me solving that problem means keeping people in their homes so house prices stabilize, not buying the bad debt.

In my view the plan should have been built around keeping Americans in their homes forcing banks to renegotiate interest rates, payments, and valuation of their homes.

But that's not what the banks want. Banks want people to foreclose and for the government to buy the bad paper. Then the banks can turn around and sell the house again. This will double or even triple their pleasure.

It's pretty sad when Congress will only pass a bill if there is enough pork in it for every Senator and Representative in Congress.

All I can hope is that this is a dog and pony show for Wall St. Sure the bill will pass but how much of it will get spent before the bill is revised or a new bill is passed? I'm guessing Congress will continue to debate this issue going forward and come up with alternatives.

Despite calls all around this bailout has become nothing but politics. All Bush Paulson is trying to do is make sure there is no money for the next President to invest in education, healthcare, infrastructure, and alternative energy. All Congress is trying to do is cover their ass in case their is an economic meltdown because they don't want to get voted out of office. All Republicans are trying to do is make sure that no matter what happens Democrats get the blame.