I think more than one conservative on this board has pointed out that there is not a lot of conservative support for this bailout, and none on this board, which pretty much neutralizes your continuing "gotcha" posts on this issue.

In other words, we're consistently anti-socialist.

Are you? I have no idea where you actually stand on socializing our financial system, other than a reflexive "anti-Bush" reaction.

Conservatives have also pointed out that this situation arose from the government sticking its oar into the mortgage system, doing what it does best by pushing wealth into areas where market forces would not normally direct it, and promising both honest and unscrupulous financiers that the government would be their safety net if they did this. It's not surprising that the honest ones would restrict themselves anyway, and the unscrupulous ones would game the system to the hilt.

Market manipulation by legislation is a foundation stone of the liberal philosophy, not the conservative one.

It was not conservatives who created the government-backed mortgage industry. It was not conservatives who created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who didn't have to play by the rules. It was not conservatives who put the pennies in the fuse box.