What the hell kinda system is it when ...

... a lot of people were dependent upon each other?

I dunno ahso.

But it must be really, really treacherous. Or so it must seem to President Bush.

This from his recent joint communique/press conference with Columbian President Uribe:

look, I'm sure there are some of my friends out there saying, I thought this guy was a market guy; what happened to him?

My first instinct was to let the market work until I realized, upon being briefed by the experts, of how significant this problem became.

And so I decided to act and act boldly.

It turns out that there's a lot of interlinks throughout the financial system.

The system had grown to a point where a lot of people were dependent upon each other, and that the collapse of one part of the system wouldn't just affect a part of the financial markets; it would affect the average citizen -- and how.

Well, it affect their capacity to borrow money to buy a house or to finance a college loan.

It affect the ability of a small business to get credit.

In other words, the system risk was significant, and it required a significant response, and Congress understands that.

And we'll work to get something done as quickly and as big as possible.

I told our people I don't want to be timid in the face of a significant problem that will affect the average citizen.

You know, some said, this is -- we can contain this to just the financial community.

In my judgment, based upon the advice of a lot of people who know how markets work, this wasn't going to be contained to just the financial community.

You know, you hear them talking about Wall Street and Main Street -- well, this is Wall Street plus Main Street

I asked Hank Paulson -- I said, what's it going to take to make sure Main Street doesn't get affected by the policies of Wall Street? And this is what they came up with, and this is big ticket, because it's a big problem.

And I understand it's important to have confidence in a financial system. And so the move, as well, is to say, we understand the significance and the depth of the problem.

creative destruction, in my judgment, wouldn't work. This requires a -- you know, it required addressing certain problems.

At first I thought we could deal with this -- deal with the problem one issue at a time.

We made the decision on Fannie and Freddie because there was systemic risk to our mortgage markets.

And then obviously AIG came along --

and Lehman came along and it was -- it declared bankruptcy;

then AIG came along and it --

the house of cards was much bigger, beyond --

started to stretch beyond just Wall Street,

in the sense of the effects of failure.

And so when one card started to go, we were worried about the whole deck going down, and so therefore moved, and moved hard.

And we took our time to come up with a strategy and a plan that would address the problem. And you bet it's big, because it needed to be big.

And in my -- sometimes in my line of work you get criticized. But the American people have got to know that I made this decision

We got smart, capable people; our workers are great; small business sector is thriving and vibrant; we're productive people.

And, you know, I know a lot of people here in Washington, Mr. President, saying, well, who to blame? Now is not the time to play the blame game.

And so, there you have it.

The American financial system is a house of cards. What the hell kinda system is it?

And you, dear reader... You who have not, despite the despair and destruction, thrown yourself out the window onto the Wall Street below...

Now are you ready?

Please don't.

At least until after you vote.

God forbid America would hold this election and no one came.