To hear it from critics on the left and right, the Bush administration and legislative leaders were in such a rush to pass a "$700 billion bailout for Wall Street" that they failed to consider much simpler, cheaper, common sense approaches. In fact, all of their ideas were considered as part of a contingency planning process over the past year at the Treasury and the Federal Reserve, and given voice during the bipartisan congressional negotiations. Some of the ideas were incorporated in various forms in the bill voted down by the House on Monday, while none ... (more)