The Fed has become as politicized and deliberately incompetent under this administration as the rest of federal departments and agencies under this criminal Bush regime.

And Chris at AmericaBlog hits the nail on the head about it. "As in worried they might become the next credit casualty. If only the Democrats in Congress would wake up to the bailout and it's potential consequences. That intervention was highly unusual and very risky yet nobody wants to talk about it. If they had to (and I'm not convinced they had to) go along with it they should have at least made it a painful process and let everyone know how exceptional it was. The lesson learned on Wall Street and by the GOP was that the wealthiest can get away with anything yet everyone else will be held accountable.

"The Fed and Bernanke are in full CYA mode this week and letting everyone know how urgent this intervention was to avoid catastrophic failure. Bullshit. If the situation was so urgent, why and how did they let it get that far? How did the checks and balances fail? Anyone who believes for one minute that the risks were not known or that trouble was out there is a liar or an idiot. An overhaul of the regulation system is needed and everyone who was supposed to be providing oversight should be fired immediately and replaced, including Bernanke. Meanwhile, the Democrats failed miserably to tie this fiasco to the GOP who owns this trillion dollar mess. There are only so many lost opportunities that one can stand."

Chris also hits the target with the broker bailouts: "You know if the tables were turned, they would say the same for everyone else. With more rumors about Merrill Lynch and other "new" massive write downs, we should be hearing more of this talk and rightly so.

" 'I think there's a good chance that the Fed itself will fail one day if they say 'we're not going to let you fail' and the government will have to bail out the entire system,' Faber said.

" 'If I'm a bad businessman and I go out of business, who's gong to help me?' he said. 'But Bear Stearns and the Wall Street elite, because they are tied into the Treasury and the Federal Reserve and they have lunch together, it's a club and so forth, they're bailed out. It's a joke!'

" 'I think a lot of banks are already bankrupt … but they hide their rotten assets … in categories where you don't really need to value them," Faber said. "I think the financial sectors, by-and large, has much larger problems than is perceived by the investment community and the stock market to some extent is telling you that.' ' 

Meanwhile the programs that Congress is now working on regarding the mortgage crisis leaves a lot to be desired. 

As the NYTimes reports: "When Congress started fashioning a sweeping rescue package for struggling homeowners earlier this year, 2.6 million loans were in trouble. But the problem has grown considerably in just six months and is continuing to worsen.

"More than three million borrowers are in distress, and analysts are forecasting a couple of million more will fall behind on their payments in the coming year as home prices fall further and the economy weakens.

"Mortgage rates have also been climbing, putting more pressure on homeowners. An estimated nine million homeowners owe more than their homes are worth and could find themselves with few options if they lose their jobs or if their mortgage bills rise substantially.

"To take part in the proposed program, lenders would have to lower each debt obligation to 85 percent of the home’s current value. Borrowers would stay in their homes but would have to pay a 1.5 percent annual insurance premium. If homes’ values grow and borrowers sell or refinance, they would have to share the gain with the government.

"The program would be managed by the Federal Housing Administration and paid for by the insurance premium, as well as a 3 percent fee paid by lenders and a tax on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored buyers of mortgages. (The refinance proposal is part of a broader housing bill that would also overhaul laws relating to the two companies and the F.H.A.)

"To qualify, borrowers would have to be in enough trouble that they could not afford their current mortgage payments but financially strong enough to make payments on their new loans.

“No matter how you fiddle with terms of their present situation, it’s not going to save the day” for many borrowers, said Bert Ely, a housing finance consultant based in Washington. 'They are not in a good financial situation because they have lost their jobs and they are overburdened with credit cards and home equity loans.' ”

But Democrats in Congress continue on their Alice in Wonderland quest of trying to fashion a bill that Dubya won't veto, while many myopic un-American Republicans in Congress believe that government shouldn't intervene to help regular American home mortgage borrowers, even though its OK to bailout the greedy, lying corporate criminal lenders who caused this mortgage disaster.

Congressional Democrats, especially the Wussacratic leaders, have exhibited no leadership other than to give Dubya and the Republicans everything they want.  These Wussacrats seem to be asleep at the wheel regarding these bailouts of those who helped caused this financial catastrophe.  They are so feckless that they should resign or retire.  We need real Democrats in Congress not these Republican lites that are currently taking up space.