Mostof the country woke up to headlines of outrage to the $700B rescueplan. After Bush went live last night, now after a year America was slappedin the face and the outrage based on most newspaper headlines is atextremes. Once again the media played to the mass hysteria and badnews reporting. Can'tsay it enough, the media is not helping here.Most articles this morning brought in those that have other ideas andare not only opposed to the Treasury's plan but don't have theirfacts straight. Media has made this a taxpayer bailout of the banks,Wall Street and the rich and powerful at the expense of the littlepeople.

Thepublic has good reason to be angry; no one is as angry and frustratedthan I am.Wall Street and greedy investors caused this, aided in no small partby the rating agencies (S&P, Moody's, Fitch). We saw the trainroaring down the tracks three years ago as mortgage loans were madeto millions that should not have been done. WallStreet asked for the junk and they got it, deals with mortgagelenders to increase the volume of sub prime loans were common; andcontrary to what some believe most of the paper was securitized byThe Street and not by Fannie and Freddie. Therating agencies stepped up to do their part by issuing AAA ratings onthose securities; banks and other investors didn't hesitate to lookany farther than AAA ratings although the rates of return were somuch higher compared to "normal" investments with the sameratings---a red flag ignored. The overwhelming desire to make biggerprofits supplanted logic.

Angerand outrage! Every citizen should be. That said, the rescue plan hasto be done.If we don't get it and very quickly, the banking system will come toa halt in terms of lending and the US and global economies will tank,making in hind sight this plan a good deal. Already the delays anddebates, which we agree are necessary, have brought the interbanklending to levels not seen since 1999. It is no more apparent thanlooking at Libor rates, the rates used for bank-to-bank lending andborrowing. On Monday 9/15 the 1 mo Libor rate was 2.49%, the 1 yr2.99%; last Friday the 1 mo 3.19%; 1 yr 3.46%; todaythe 1 mo 3.71%, the 1 yr 3.98%.Rapid increase in Libor is clear evidence the financial system isteetering and lending is all but locked up.

Therescue plan is absolutely necessary; in the end taxpayers willbenefit in two ways; the economy will not collapse into a prolongedrecession, and in a few years when the sub primes are sold back intothe markets they will generate a profit----we are confident of it asare most savvy investors. Buffett said yesterday if he could borrowmoney at the rate the Treasury can, he would do the rescue planhimself, ditto on comments from Bill Gross at PIMCO.