It is unfortunate! Free marketeer in me hates any kind of bailout but the pragmatist in me knows that something needed to be done to unfreeze the credit markets. There would be time to fix all the wrongs in the system but the priority should have been to make sure that the markets continue to function

It maybe instructive at this time to review why this problem became this large. Couple of the following articles sum up the genesis of the problem rather nicely

From Bloomberg

and From WSJ

Now of course the problems were compounded later when the street failed to recognize the riskiness of the paper they were dabbling in but they have paid the price. As I write this, Senator Obama appears to be widening his lead in the polls and the way the media and our elected lawmakers are spinning this crisis it may very well happen that the party responsible for this debacle may end up taking the congress and the Presidency.

If that happens, it will be a sad day for the country!