[Rick Lee]

I don't think these bailouts will have a net cost of anything close to the amount of money we've been hearing on the news every day. It's not the gov't. just writing a check to wipe away bad debt. They're getting some valuable assets for pennies on the dollar in exchange for the bailout. Some of those assets will be worthless. But still, the vast, vast majority of homeowners are paying their mortgages on time and so those MBS's will retain their value. Theoretically, the gov't. could even turn a profit by all this, though I'd be overjoyed if they just came close to breaking even.