Bailout defeated 207 to 226

The US House of Representatives has voted down the US$700 billion bailout plan, and share markets have fallen further. Democrats voted around 3:2 in favour while Republicans voted around 2:1 against. The elections in a few weeks loom large – one of the problems of having such a short two year term.

Ironically Brian Fallow must have written his column in advance, saying:

American lawmakers may have pulled the United States and the rest of us back from the brink of economic calamity, but the path down from the clifftop remains long, tortuous and slippery.

Actually the lawmakers have pushed the world a bit closer to economic calamity.