Bailout bill

Yesterday, it was Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass,), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, blaming mortgage servicers for a failure to modify loans, thereby prolonging the nation’s foreclosure crisis.
Today, it’s Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, accusing lenders of hoarding federal funds, thus prolonging the nation’s credit crisis.

Who cares about bipartisanship anymore?
The public has soured on both parties, and Congress has its lowest approval ratings in history.  (See: Backlash, Bailout.)  Yet the presidential candidates are still tussling over who is truly bipartisan.
On Thursday afternoon, Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton went after Sen. John McCain’s bipartisan street cred. Responding to McCain’s effort to [...]

So it looks so far like the Republican House members who voted down the bailout bill are going to come in for some criticism because they based their opposition not on their party’s long held beliefs about the role of government in the free markets, and not on any concern about letting the markets correct [...]

I’m guessing Brad DeLong isn’t too happy about today’s failure of the bailout bill. He’s got a suggestion on what to do next: Bring Congress back into session after the election and adopt a nationalized plan.
From DeLong:

Many thanks to Laura for covering the cliff dive of the markets while I couldn’t. I’m back now, and it’s fair to say the reactions to the House’s failure to pass the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill today go beyond mere shock or surprise.
Here’s my favorite so far, from Atlanta blogger Megan McArdle, usually [...]