In a stunning defeat to the financial powers that be, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected the proposed $700 billion dollar bailout bill in the teeth of formidable media and political pressure. Only such a bailout, President Bush, Treasury Secretary Paulson, and Fed Chairman Bernanke have been insisting for more than a week, can possibly save the United States from an economic apocalypse — never mind that this massive spending bill was cobbled together in haste, in secret, and with little notion of how much taxpayer money might ultimately be required to buy up unknown amounts of bad mortgage-based assets.

These days President Bush and the managers of our monetary policy sound like prophets of doom when they talk about the economy. "The government's top economic experts warn that without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic, and a distressing scenario would unfold," President Bush claimed when he addressed the nation on Wednesday, September 24.