Reader comments
Matheson, Bishop oppose bailout, Cannon supports

I hope all Americans realize what this actually means to them personally. It WAS 700 BILLION but now it is more like 850 BILLION!!! That translates to more than $2,800 FROM EVERY MAN WOMAN AND CHILD IN AMERICA (except for illegal aliens) OWED TO THE GOVERNMENT IN THE FORM OF TAXES!!! For a family of 6, that is $17,000. The extra 150 Billion is for "Sweeteners" for the congressmen and senators who would have voted against the bill without them. Sweeteners are flat out pork packages meant to help congressmen's pet projects in their home states.

It is disgusting that this bill passed, and Congressman Matheson is correct in saying that this bill will do Nothing in solving the problem. We just delayed it a little, but the delay comes in the form of digging the hole we're in that much deeper. They've socialized the risk, (or losses) and kept the profits private.

Shame, shame on every congressman and senator who voted for this.

This circus pretty much validated my decision to go from registered Republican to unaffiliated a couple years ago. I haven't voted for a democrat in quite some time but that will change next time Matheson is up for election. He will have my vote. Hatch and Bennet will never see my vote again. Republicans just lost whatever shred of faith I had in them. I'm also going to start checking out third party choices to see what they are all about. The Constitution Party sound interesting.

Hatch, Bennett and Cannon support their rich buddies.

Bishop and Matheson support the taxpayer.

I can't believe it passed. This is going to hit us ten times worse in the future, and the government won't be able to bail us out the next time, and it will be a worse depression than if we went through it this time around. This is exactly what is going to destroy this nation

My vote is already for the Constitution Party. They were against from the beginning.

Adding pork spending = getting more votes. Of course we already knew Washington was corrupt, but has it ever been more evident on a major bill before?

Throw. The. Bums. Out.
(Chris Cannon = 1 down, hundreds to go...good job 3rd district!)

This bill may have been loaded with pork - which is a complete joke. BUT WAKE UP - this bill was absolutely necessary. Sure, it only buys us time. But we NEED time. Without some sort of solution and commitment on the Fed's part to help contain this mess, we were heading for another depression. Just look at the facts - the economy became completely dependent on real estate - whose value was dropping.

As ridiculous as the add-ins were, voting against it was not a viable option.

Bishop and Matheson are the biggest hypocrites. Since when do they 'support the tax-payer'?
They approve so much waste all of the time.

October 3, 2008, the beginning of the end of the United States of America.

Matheson and Bishop represent Utahans in the light they deserve... we care more about our country than ourselves. Hatch and Bennett were bought and voted for themselves and their party interests instead of listening to the people they are suppose to be representing... us. Time for some new representation in the senate! Reps Matheson and Bishop deserve re-election for actually representing the majority vote in Utah. I don't care if they are two different parties. Hatch and Bennett have lost my vote next round. Time for 3rd party representation as far as I'm concerned. And I agree... Constitution party is going in MY direction!

How utterly repugnant this whole mess is. Not only have Hatch and Bennett lost my votes but I will actively oppose them in the next election. Too bad it was too late and Cannon was able to cast another damaging vote. All three are such discraces. I am uncertain about Rob Bishop but I hope he has a conscience.

Equally I am terribly dissapointed in the American people for the lack of responsibility in this matter. The heat should have been so high in Washington that this bill would have gone down. The House listened to the people the first time and rejected the plan. Alas they listened to the "arm twisters" and rejected the will of the American people.

Seems that the will of the people wasn't strong enough to overcome the power players in Washington. T'is a Terrible day in the history of this once great nation.

Well,

Now I know that I'm not voting for Senator Bennett or Senator Hatch when their terms are up.

Get them out of there.

Ah yes, this bill did so much. The DOW still dropped 400 points AFTER IT PASSED!

Yes, this bill is going to to wonders to help the economy.

This is exactly why I voted for Jason Cheafets in the Primaries. Cannon is just like all of the old I mean old members of Congress who needs to be voted out of their positions and let a new kind of blood go into Washington for the People not for anything else. Cannon is noting but scum as far as I am concerned.

We need REAL change in this country. The Democrats AND Republicans need to be replaced. These two parties no longer work and need a wake up call. They just ignored the people they represent and will keep doing so until voters take action by voting them out or leaving these parties in droves.

"Hyprocrites" needs to go back to business school! Anyone who truly understands free market capitalism would be AGAINST THE BAILOUT! The fundamentals of economics will always be sound. Given the chance, these fundamental laws of finance will correct the economy with painful symptoms to investors. You cannot fix a problem caused by borrowed funds WITH MORE BORROWED FUNDS! HELLO?!?!?
Kudos to MATHESON and SHAME ON HATCH AND BENNETT! Go read your economics books folks.....

You just don't get that this isn't a "bailout", that it's not about tax dollars out of the average citizen's pocket, that it's not Wall Street vs. the rest of us. This is about fixing our economy so that everyone single one of us has a brighter future. If you don't understand that failure to pass this bill would have hit you much harder economically than passing it, you need to open up your one-track mind and start thinking instead of knee-jerk reacting. Shame on Bishop and Matheson for looking out for themselves instead of Utah and the nation.

Your fighting a losing battle my friend. People don't want to hear that they would be hurt more severely by the full on depression that would have occurred had the bill not passed. They dont realize that the people that caused this crisis ( Irresponsible lenders, opportunistic and just plain ignorant home buyers ) have already been hurt by this badly. The entire mortgage industry has gone through a period of rapid consolidation. Regulations from major lenders ( GMAC, Fanny, Freddy etc ) have tightened up lending requirements a LOT. Those companies that engaged in the risky behavior simply dont exist any more.

Yes it rankles that the big names are being bailed out of thier own irresponsibility, but it had to be done or the truly innocent would have been hurt far worse than any of the "fat cats" that would be hurt from not passing the bailout.

What rankles the most to me is that the second version of the bill had so much pork attached to it. Is it any wonder that the second bill had even less republican support than the first, yet still passed handily ?

Perhaps this is why prophets have said "avoid debt like the plague". Because if you are in debt up to your eyeballs like so many when you get a little nervous about the economy, you have no choice but to jump on board these pathetic socialistic/communistic ideals. And you're going to find out it did nothing to save you from your debt ridden life, but did lead you to bondage. The rest of us who love our FREE country were willing to do the hard thing/let the market correct itself. Kudos to Matheson (never thought I'd say that) and Bishop. I gained a lot of respect for a Democrat for the 1st time in my life today. I didn't lose any respect for Hatch. I voted against him in the last 2 elections. I can't help it if I am way more politically savvy than the rest of my state. What can I say?

@You just don't get it, do you!

You don't know what the heck you're talking about, friend. If you think buying illiquid junk status securities with borrowed money is going to fix our economy, you're not thinking this through. If you bought into the fear tactics that have now created a huge expansion of government and our debt, you're just plain gullible.

The fact is fear and frantic political pressure thrust this bailout upon us. The only knee-jerk reaction I see was Congress' hurried and thoughtless approval of it.

Thank you rep. Matheson for sticking to your guns, bishop as well. Hatch and Bennett take note, you will have my undying resistance from here on out. We don't need your pork and lies. This bill will do nothing to solve the problem

I never thought anyone who was smart enough to actually use a computer (ie those who are supporting this bill) would actually think throwing good (relatively) money after bad is a good idea. Maybe their wives are posting for them ala John McCain???

They probably think giving more drugs to a drug addict is the way to solve their problems too.

"You've already abused drugs for 20 years??? Well, here's another month's supply as long as you promise not to do it again when you're done with this last batch. What's that??? You can't promise that? Well here's a month and a half's worth supply then. Now just go away."

Please, rest of the country, follow the 3rd congressional district's lead AND VOTE THE BUMS OUT!!!

Good for Matheson and Bishop for voting against this.