The results are in: $700 Billion. The Democratically controlled Congress, to their credit has kept the extraneous spending out of it. I've skimmed this bill (I didn't read all 110 pages) and I hate to admit it but this is about as good a bill we could expect from this Congress. That it will actually provide liquidity, this bill's original intention, is very questionable and in fact highly doubtful.

Here are the general details:

There will be $250 billion up front, followed by another $100 billion installment. The final $350 billion must be approved by Congress. The Secretary of the Treasury will use this money to buy up the so-called toxic assets from banks that were originated before March 14, 2008. This bill gives the Secretary the ability to determine what he's going to pay for these assets.

In order for the Democrats to secure Republican support, insurance shall be purchased to "protect the taxpayers." The financial institutions that are being bailed out will pay premiums into a "fund." What I'm having trouble with is whether this so-called fund is a real, separate account or the same kind of fund that federal deposit insurance receipts and Social Security receipts are deposited into - in other words, the general fund. If it's the general fund, the taxpayers are no more "protected" than they would be if the Secretary just blew the money except the taxpayers would have yet another worthless IOU. I can't tell by reading the bill what's up here. Unfortunately, Sec. 102, (c) (2) sounds eerily like Title II, Section 201 (b) of the Social Security Act of 1935. It sounds like another IOU for which the taxpayer is on the hook upon redemption.

With a plethora of reporting requirements, this bill truly has transparency. Congress will receive updates until the money has been completely spent and with every sale of any troubled asset, an electronic version of the transaction will be generated and made public.

Revenues of sales of troubled assets are directly transferred to the Treasury, where they will likely be spent on new budget increases, no matter who controls Congress. The debt this bill secures is the American taxpayer's to keep forever.

I read the sections concerning foreclosure mitigation efforts but it doesn't sound any different than the $300 Billion mortgage bailout or the Hope Now bill that was passed last Spring. What is new though is protection for someone who is renting a unit that has gone into foreclosure.

My absolute favorite part of the bill is the part that begins on page 87. This bill gives the Secretary the authority to suspend mark-to-market accounting. Mark-to-market accounting was established back in November, 2007 and requires institutions to write down the market value of assets. Of course, the market value of many of these toxic assets has been zero and that's been responsible for the barrage of bank losses that have led to these institutions failing. However, common sense will tell you these are assets that are not worth zero - they still have intrinsic value even though the market won't acknowledge that. It is my fervent belief that this whole mess could be dealt with by addressing mark-to-market accounting including overhauling these assets.

If there is anything this bill offers that holds any promise at all, it's this Section 132. Further, the Secretary is required to perform a study of FASB Statement 157 that was enacted last November and changed the rules on mark-to-market accounting and report the results to Congress.

Regardless of this provision, I am not convinced this bill will provide the liquidity it seeks. There is precedent with The Bank of England who tried something similar to this bill and liquidity still has not returned to any level even close to "normal," after 6 months.

The market is not impressed. Six hours after Speaker Pelosi announced the text, futures are down around 1% and Asian and European markets are down around 2%.

After this pullback, I wouldn't be surprised to see a short-term bounce for a few days before we return to the overall trend, which is down.

I can't believe I read this bill!! Lord, please help me!