gnu: That particular post was not a response to the "what do we do now" but to the allegation made by someone else that I hated Bush and that clouded everything.

Now as far as what's going on now that could solve the problems? Unfortunately it's too soon to tell.

Take the GM 'purchase' as an example. I'm really hoping that it turns out like Conrail - where the government took over 6 bankrupt railroads and made one out of them. It bought them in 1976 and sold Conrail for a considerable profit in 1987. The government got it for nothing and lost approximately $2B in the first six years. starting in 1983, however, profits started coming and got larger. In fact, it reported a profit of over $310M in it's final year before the privatization act was passed that mandated a sale to the private sector. That sale went for a little over $1.9B, more than recouping the government's investment when interim profits were taken into consideration.

That's what I'd like to see come from GM.