The way to get people to do things that are not in their own best interest is to instill fear. The so-called $700 billion bailout was rushed through Congress without proper analysis or oversight because Congress was told that the sky was falling and if something were not done in the next few days, depression would ensue. So the Congress wrote the largest blank check in American history---a blank check for the Treasury Department to do anything they want with the money. But the sky IS falling for a different reason---because the taxpayers are being robbed blind.
What is so amazing is that nobody has figured out that mortgage defaults and pending defaults are at the heart of this problem. But instead of attacking the problem at its roots, Treasury is handing out low-interest loans that are being used to buy up other banks, provide bonuses to executives and continue the excesses of the past. Now Congress says that it intended to give the money to encourage more lending---the very thing that got us into this mess in the first place. There is plenty of money out there for loans. The problem is that individuals and business are up to their eyeballs in debt already and are not good risks. So Congress wants to roll this snowball further down the hill by encouraging more loans that will not be paid back.
In the meantime, Henry Paulson is fattening the coffers of all of his friends on Wall Street while the Federal Reserve is even worse. The Federal Reserve has already given out $2 TRILLION (that's Trillion with a capital "T") in additional loans to organizations whose identities they will not disclose. In addition, they have contracted with other Wall Street law firms to manage the money for legal fees that they won't disclose either. It's a "Trust Me" game and the taxpayers are on the losing end of it.
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