Both sides have come out swinging claiming the others have caused the financial ruin of America by opposing the bailout. But that's simply political speak and not what really happened...

The vote was close, admittedly, and was 228-205, with a 12 vote shift away from it passing. But this wasn't something along party lines. More than two-thirds Republicans and forty percent of Democrats opposed the bill.

The Republicans blamed a speech by Pelosi for the bill not passing -

"We could have gotten there today had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House," Minority Leader John Boehner said. Pelosi's words, the Ohio Republican said, "poisoned our conference, caused a number of members that we thought we could get, to go south."

On the other hand, Democrats blamed the Republicans for having hurt feelings -

"Because somebody hurt their feelings, they decided to punish the country." - Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee

But both sides forget that the overwhelming majority of Americans are against the bailout! We aren't looking to bail out companies that made bad decisions based on problems originally created by government intervention. The American people are sick of elected representatives doing whatever they feel like without listening to those who represent them. I'll not be supporting any representative who voted for the bailout - Republican or Democrat. Our country wasn't founded on socialism, and adopting it in a rush to fix a problem that took decades to manifest itself is simply not prudent.

So lets sit back down and find a reasonable fix for the problem - but don't piss on our leg and tell us it's raining. Unfortunately the voice of the American people, and the votes of the House mean nothing, as the Fed pumped $630 billion into the financial system. Oh, didn't you know - the Fed can do whatever it wants, with no government oversight or accountability to the people.