Brother Bush, Can You Spare A Dime?

As Bush's $700 billion bail-out bombed and stock markets took a dive, Democrats and Republicans were quick to point the finger of blame at each other. 

With an election round the corner, few want to get too close to Bush and his years of letting the Wall Street fat cats get away with it. And no-one wants to hand Bush and his treasury secretary a blank cheque.

Both Republicans and Democrats have been inundated with outraged voters telling them bluntly, they don't want the cash going straight into the pockets of Wall Street.

Bush's bail-out strikes deep at the heart of the elections, with both sides making political capital out of Capitol Hill.

It must be hard for the Republicans to change the habit of a lifetime. But voters know Bush lied over Iraq, so why should they trust him over this.

And this is America - the Land of the Free - Enterprise. If you can make a fast buck you are a hero. If you screw up, brother Bush, then no one will spare you a dime.

Democrats can sit pretty. It's not their fault. They're in opposition and knocking the administration is their job. The stock market may crumble, Wall Street may tumble but as long as Main Street doesn't squeal too much, they're happy to let Bush sweat.

Ever since US treasury secretary, Hank Paulson, unveiled the bill, as a 'rescue package' it helped buoy financial markets. But it was quickly seen as a bail-out and that would go against the grain with an unprecedented government intervention in the private sector.

And all sorts of deals, buy-outs and fundings have been earmarked in the bill, to give political advantage. 

House Republicans blamed the bail-out failure on Democrat House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, accusing Pelosi of being too partisan and “poisoning” the Republicans in a pre-vote floor speech, where she blamed the economic crisis on years of Republican economic policies, saying: "It has created not jobs, not capital; it has created chaos."

As the House of Representatives sent the historic bill packing, the stock market went into a tailspin and added to fears that the US will nose-dive into recession, unless the legislation is revived.

But this is one show that could run and run until everyone has had their two cents worth.