It looks like this is it!  And now the clock starts ticking.  Markets will probably rebound at least temporarily but it will be closer to election day that we see if the rebound is temporary or has some lasting power:

Lawmakers work to nail down $700B bailout plan

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS – 45 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (AP) — Key lawmakers who struck a post-midnight deal on a $700 billion bailout for the financial industry predicted Sunday it would pass Congress, putting in place the largest government intervention in markets since the Great Depression.

Negotiators sought to iron out the final shape of the legislation, which House Republicans still had to review. It was their fierce opposition to a federal rescue that nearly torpedoed an emerging bipartisan pact late in the week.

But officials in both parties were hopeful for a House vote Monday, and the two presidential candidates said they probably would support it.

Under the rescue plan, the government would pump as much as $700 billion into beleaguered financial firms that are starving for cash, taking over huge amounts of devalued assets from the companies in the hopes of unlocking frozen credit.

The proposal is designed to end a vicious downward spiral that has battered all levels of the economy, in which hundreds of billions of dollars in investments based on mortgages gone bad have cramped banks' willingness to lend.

"This is the bottom line: If we do not do this, the trauma, the chaos and the disruption to everyday Americans' lives will be overwhelming, and that's a price we can't afford to risk paying," Sen. Judd Gregg, the chief Senate Republican in the talks, told The Associated Press on Sunday. "I do think we'll be able to pass it, and it will be a bipartisan vote."

A breakthrough came when Democrats agreed to incorporate a GOP demand — letting the government insure some bad home loans rather than buy them — designed to limit the amount of federal money used in the rescue.

Another important bargain, vital to attracting support from centrist Democrats and Republicans who are fiscal hawks, would require that the government, after five years, submit a plan to Congress on how to recoup any losses.

The plan would give Congress a stronger hand in controlling the money than the Bush administration wanted. Lawmakers could block half the money and force the president to jump through some hoops before using it all. The government could get at $250 billion immediately, $100 billion more if the president certified it was necessary, and the last $350 billion with a separate certification — and subject to a congressional resolution of disapproval.

Still, the resolution could be vetoed by the president, meaning it would take extra-large congressional majorities to stop it.

The presidential nominees came behind the outlines of the bailout.

"This is something that all of us will swallow hard and go forward with," said Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona. "The option of doing nothing is simply not an acceptable option."

His Democratic rival, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, sought credit for taxpayer safeguards added to the initial proposal from the Bush administration. "I was pushing very hard and involved in shaping those provisions," he said.

House Republicans said they're still reviewing the plan.

"We are not ready to say that a deal is done," Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va.

Congressional leaders announced a tentative deal in the early hours of Sunday morning after marathon negotiations at the Capitol.

"We've still got more to do to finalize it, but I think we're there," said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who also participated in the negotiations in the Capitol.

Executives whose companies benefit from the rescue could not get "golden parachutes" and would see their pay packages limited.

The government would receive stock warrants in return for the bailout relief, giving taxpayers a chance to share in financial companies' future profits.

To help struggling homeowners, the plan requires the government to try renegotiating the bad mortgages it acquires with the aim of lowering borrowers' monthly payments so they can keep their homes.

"Nobody got everything they wanted," said Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. He predicted it would pass, though not by a large majority.

Gregg, R-N.H., said he thinks taxpayers will come out as financial winners. "I don't think we're going to lose money, myself. We may, it's possible, but I doubt it in the long run," he said.

Frank appeared on C-SPAN, Obama was on CBS' "Face the Nation," McCain spoke on "This Week" on ABC and Cantor was on "Late Edition" on CNN.

Susie--my IRA which was an annuity held by MetLife got transferred quickly, faster than I had supposed. You need to find out what forms they need, fill them in, and fax.  I then called every day, some times twice a day--good thing too.  Because I didn't send a copy of a check of the bank to which the transfer was going (and, of course, I wasn't told this was required) it got held up for two days, but I had the money in five business days. 

The caveat here is that my money was not insured and would have been gone if MetLife failed, but in other ways it was not at risk, as funded (your) assets might be, so that's where you may have to be careful. You don't want to remove your funds at the lowest point in the market. I was getting a very small interest but I wanted to feel safe and preferred a guaranteed interest rate to the flux of the market.  If you decide to get your funds, you have sixty days from the day they release your funds to reinvest in another IRA without paying taxes.  However, considering your circumstances you may not be that vulnerable.  I believe that taking the money for disability may waive some penalties; about the actual taxes I don't know. You should talk to a financial consultant to see what your options are.

Good luck in whatever you do!  I feel for you and for all

Beth--Wow, you do have some decisions.  Your mother should check to see if her annuity is insured.  That was my problem, mine wasn't.  And I had no idea with banks and life insurance companies going down every day if MetLife was good or not.  I feel so much better now that the money is in an FDIC insured account, and tomorrow I start looking for its new home.

Good luck but I think you'll be okay.  There is some truth in the maxim that the markets always come back and it sounds as though you have time at least.

financialservices.house.gov

The above is one of the government websites where you can read the proposed legislation, as just announced by Nancy Pelosi, et al.  I've clicked a few times without luck, but the server is probably overwhelmed with people like me wanting to see what we're committed to.

This post is not aimed at the Democrats, but they were the ones who held the conference and took the credit, so I have no one else to aim it at--yet!  The Republicans will be talking soon. The self-congratulatory tone, particularly Chris Dodd's, was rather disturbing considering what they were congratulating themselves for.  And the constant self praise for staying up late to finish the job (last night until 1:30 a.m.) was ridiculous.  I frequently stayed up all night, and very often until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning working on projects that had tight deadlines.  That's expected if you work in business and you're in a position of responsibility, particularly when dealing with emergencies. It seems that late hours are unusual for our senators and congressmen.  

While they were holding their conference a banner kept going across the bottom of the TV stating that the CEO of Washington Mutual, after 18 days on the job, was walking away with 13 million dollars, plus. 

If I understand one of the analysts who has seen the legislation, the congratulations they were giving themselves for the provision on limited compensation for executives is for the following. Any company that gets help from this bailout must keep its pay scale at $500,000 a year or below, or pay a hefty tax to the government for any salaries over $500,000.  The analyst, someone in the financial sector, said it's unreasonable to expect a top executive to work for $500,000.  Poor souls!  If we just let the markets adjust on their own with no bailout, and top financial institutions throughout the United States and the world fail, where are these men and women going to go to get the $30,000,000 a year in salaries they seem to expect? 

With such attitudes dominating, we're sure to see the same old again and again.  As my husband, the gold standard in cynics, said when the conference was over, "More bits of colored glass for the natives."  That wasn't, by the way a slam at native Americans, but at us for never, ever, holding our government accountable.  

Anyway, I'm off to read! 

My non-political comment.  I plan to take cash out of our accounts to hold us together for one year,  for food and the bare essentials. 

My political comment.  If I sound irrational, I can only blame the politicians who keep telling us this is the financial Armageddon.

I told my husband as we turned to our right and left to sleep last night that I had given up on political threads.  I fell asleep to laughter.