Time to Start Over on Bailout

On Sunday night I put out a Twitter message that I thought the left-right coalition against this thing was growing. Karen Tumulty, the Time reporter and former colleague and fellow Twitterer asked what the alternative was. Now, we're learning.

Just since this morning, and since I blogged a couple of hours ago, the passage of the administration proposal seems doomed without a major overhaul. And even then you have to wonder what's actually going to be able to make it past the left and right.

Politico has a nice account of the smackdown that Dick Cheney and White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten got from House Republicans who are very worried about the politics back home. One possibility I haven't heard floated that would seem to make sense is to start the program out small and see how well it works. Before you authorize $700 billion, how about start with $100 billion--adding on all the oversight and executive compensation rules--and see how it goes? If it calms the markets, you can always add more money later, right? If it doesn't we'll need to try something else.

Matt Cooper

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