Following the House defeat of the modified Paulson bill—a defeat not merely enabled but actively encouraged by the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi—and the subsequent cratering of the stock market, the Senate decided to stand up and act like the adults on the Hill, passing a modified version of the bill in pointed fashion. Amazingly, it was even a more conservative version of the bill (despite the added pork), though I doubt it was enough so to be worth the cost of the bill’s failure the first time around. In any case, this time, Speaker Pelosi took the hint and actually decided to do her job, and the House fell in line and passed the bill, 263-171. It’s always nice to see our politicians acting like grownups for a change. (Even so, I still think a lot of these folks—Speaker Pelosi first and foremost—need to be swept out like yesterday’s dustbunnies.)Update: obviously, the rescue bill hasn’t stopped the stock market’s slide to this point; part of that, I expect, is the market principle “buy on rumor, sell on news,” which has always seemed stupid to me but is very much part of the pattern of the markets. Part of it, too, is that the markets expect an Obama victory and don’t like what they think that will mean. Even so, I remain convinced that those who opposed the bill on the grounds that it was bad for the free market were wrong; rather, as an editorial in Investors’ Business Daily, argued, the bill gave the government necessary tools to help heal the free market. Here’s hoping they’re used wisely and proactively.
