Work + Money

by Liz Peek

wOw's Wall Street Weekly with Liz Peek

Thank God for the long weekend. I am hoping that over the next two days the authorities here and elsewhere will figure out some potent next steps aimed at stemming this horror show; something that investors might actually believe in. At the least, the market will not be able to go down.

What can the Paulson team actually do? Here's my take: Investors and voters have little confidence in the once-$700-billion-now-$900-billion rescue plan. There are a number of reasons for that  -- it is complex, the original presentation was vilified as a bailout for Wall Street and the final package was so bloated it made the Fat Cats look anorexic. The plan also failed to buoy confidence because it wasn't immediate --  the best guess was that it would not be implemented until mid- or late-November.

What's that all about? Here we have the fiscal dream team telling us to hurry, hurry, hurry to get this bill enacted -- and then they can't figure out how to buy some securities? Is this an emergency or isn't it? Read More »

Written by: Wendy Piersall

Last weekend, I watched the news on the nebulous "bailout package" nearly 24/7. It seemed so big, so important, yet I just didn't get it. HOW could pumping this amount of money into Wall Street have ANYTHING to do with me, or you, our Sparkplugging readers.

I started to understand when one of the Representatives being interviewed said, "I got a call today from the owner of the largest car dealership in my district. He told me that he didn't have enough cash to make payroll this week, and that this was the first time in his life that he was unable to get a credit line to cover his cash flow shortage." Read More »