deja vu: another weekend another bailout act 3

Good Grief!!! The feds are getting more done on the weekend than they do during the week. This weekend they drafted a 3 page bill requesting congressional approval of a $700 billion bailout fund to buy the bad debts that banks & insurance companies are carrying on their books. The goal is to get financial institutions to stop hoarding cash and increase the liquidity of the short term credit markets. The fear is that without increased liquidity soon, there will be an economic meltdown and collapse similar to the Great Depression. My hope is this will be the last bailout needed. Altogether this bailout is pushing the $1 trillion mark, which is a high price to pay for a soft landing. I also hope that this turns the tide on large companies expecting the taxpayers to bail them out every time their business cycle enters the slump phase.
On another front of this bailout war, the Federal Reserve gave the last 2 major US investment banks permission to change their status to bank holding companies. On Sunday Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley received the Fed's blessing to buy a commercial bank. The goal here is to give these investment banks access to commercial banks' deposits for the short term loans that are the lifeblood of investment banks. Hours after this permission was granted, Morgan Stanley signed a nonbinding letter of intent for Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group to buy 20% of Morgan Stanley. Alas, a wall street company trying to rise from the ashes without 100% assistance from the Feds!! Is that a light I see at the end of the tunnel?