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I don't have much money, but I have a bank account, a 401k and a frozen pension, a job and a house with a mortgage. I don't know how many I'll still have when forces I don't understand announce "We're fine" or "You lose."

So here's what I'm finding:

Breaking:

$700 Billion Is Sought for Wall Street in Massive Bailout
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN 1 minute ago

The Bush administration is requesting virtually unfettered authority for the Treasury to buy mortgage-related assets.

* Text of Plan | Candidates React

The Wall Street Bailout Plan, Explained. By DAVID STOUT.
Shorter NYT:

Many members of Congress are eager to leave Washington to go home and campaign for the November elections, and no one wants to face the voters without having done something to protect modest savings portfolios as well as giant investors.

Socialism for the very rich and the poorhouse for the rest us is politically awkward.

Liberal economists:

Paul Krugman, NYT, has been doubting the fix.

No deal
I hate to say this, but looking at the plan as leaked, I have to say no deal. Not unless Treasury explains, very clearly, why this is supposed to work, other than through having taxpayers pay premium prices for lousy assets.

Duncan Black has a PhD in economics from Brown University and is a Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America. His blog is Eschaton, where, as Atrios, he wrote,

I Suppose I Appreciate The Honesty

They could've released a complicated plan which appeared to have controls and oversight but which would be hard to decipher from the language. Instead they made it plain for all to see that what they want is to be able to take money from you and give it to Wall Street firms.

And, a bit later:

Great Moments In Legislative Proposals
This is my favorite bit. Well, aside from the whole SEVEN HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS part.

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency

.

Kevin Drum:

Solvency vs. Liquidity
: ...Their plan, as near as I can tell, is to liquidate the sludge precisely so we can tell who's really involvent and who isn't. What's more, if Democrats manage to grow a spine over the next few days (and no, I'm not taking bets), the bailout bill could contain provisions to restructure loans for distressed homeowners, which means, contra Atrios, that all those bad loans could genuinely become a little less bad. It would be nice if this were set up so that restructuring was mandatory for any bank that wanted government help, but given the way all these mortgages have been sliced and diced over the years, I don't even know for sure if that's possible....

On the right:

The Mother of All Bailouts = The Death of Fiscal Conservatism. Michelle Malkin.

WSJ: House Conservatives Balk at Federal Bailouts

MSM today:

R.I. congressional leaders on bailout: 'This can't end at Wall Street'. Providence Journal business writer Lynn Arditi:

Members of Rhode Island's congressional delegation yesterday agreed that a federal government rescue is unavoidable to stave off a global financial crisis, but insisted they could not support any plan without assurances that help is on the way for the growing number of Americans who are losing their homes to foreclosure.

But in this crisis atmosphere, it remains unclear what that help will look like -- or when it will arrive.

"This can't end at Wall Street," said U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse. "You can't end with [fixing] the machinery of the economy without going down and making everybody else in the economy healthy."

(The trickle-down theory!)

Whitehouse, the lawyer who helped former Governor Sundlun draft a taxpayer-financed bailout for depositors during the state banking crisis in 1991, said that given the speed at which the administration is moving, he doubts there will be time to enact a broad-based rescue plan for American homeowners immediately. But in return for supporting any rescue plan, he said, he will need "stern commitments" from the administration that they will not "just walk away once they solve the Wall Street problems."

Think there'll be a bipartisan New Deal?

NYT: Finger-Pointing in Financial Crisis Is Directed at Bush

Senator Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, denounces what he calls the Bush administration's "failed philosophy."

Senator John McCain, the Republican, claimed Friday that "the administration did nothing" to rein in the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, even though the White House did push some reforms on Capitol Hill.

And while economists and other experts say there are plenty of culprits -- Democrats and Republicans in Congress, the Federal Reserve, an overzealous home-lending industry, banks and also Mr. Bush's predecessor, Bill Clinton -- they do agree that the Bush administration bears part of the blame.

Without classification:

Did Aliens Cause The U.S. Financial Meltdown?

If you were watching the Colbert Report the other day, you would have seen the best and most sensible explanation so far for our whole financial donnybrook: alien financial advisors are leading us off a cliff on purpose. Stephen Colbert finally got through to his financial advisor Gorlock, whom he'd been name-dropping for a few days.

Here's Stephen Colbert:

 

Florida retired media exec Tom Matrullo knows more about money than I understand, and he's all over this. He quotes Web of Debt author Ellen Brown.

From IT'S THE DERIVATIVES, STUPID! WHY FANNIE, FREDDIE AND AIG ALL HAD TO BE BAILED OUT:

..the greatest Ponzi scheme in history, one that is holding up the entire private global banking system. What had to be saved at all costs was not housing or the dollar but the financial derivatives industry; and the precipice from which it had to be saved was an "event of default" that could have collapsed a quadrillion dollar derivatives bubble, a collapse that could take the entire global banking system down with it.

...snip...

"The point everyone misses," wrote economist Robert Chapman a decade ago, "is that buying derivatives is not investing. It is gambling, insurance and high stakes bookmaking. Derivatives create nothing." link

derivatives: from econterms:

securities whose value is derived from the some other time-varying quantity. Usually that other quantity is the price of some other asset such as bonds, stocks, currencies, or commodities. It could also be an index, or the temperature. Derivatives were created to support an insurance market against fluctuations.

Derivatives, from Wikipedia:

Derivatives are financial instruments whose value changes in response to the changes in underlying variables. The main types of derivatives are futures, forwards, options, and swaps.

The main use of derivatives is to reduce risk for one party....

Newspaper stocks rose this week, the News Buyout 2008 blog reports (Finances), citing Editor & Publisher:

Newspaper company stocks have been on the rise this week. That includes A.H. Belo.

A.H. Belo closed Friday's trading at $7.07, up nearly 10 percent on the day and nearly 20 percent for the week. Even McClatchy, the beleaguered owner of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, managed an increase.

A.H. Belo's shares have not been at this level in three months. Even after the job cuts were announced in late July, the prices fell steadily to a low of $4.67 a month later.

News Buyout 2008 is a blog trying to assemble information about the buyouts and impending layoffs at the A.H. Belo-owned Dallas Morning News, Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Providence Journal.

WSJ, free: As Times Turn Tough, New York's Wealthy Economize: Plastic Surgeons, Jewelers, Yacht Builders Brace for Leaner Times; Saying No to Caviar.