I went to bed with the news that McCain wasn't sure if he would support the splurge. Not that anyone needs my vote on this thing, but I woke up trying to figure out if I am in favor of it. So I'll read (links) and think outloud and hopefully get somewhere.

My friend Tom Evslin, a conservative in the best sense of the word, posted his thoughts titled Just Say No. He argues the splurge is a short term fix and we should invest the capital in long term solutions to our economic problems instead.

My friend Roger Ehrenberg, a wall street guy who made the leap to startups and VC a few years back, thinks we must do something:

Bottom line, I think the system would remain too jammed for too long simply letting things play out on their own. Now I am a free markets guy. I grew up in the markets. Love the markets. Believe in the markets. But this market is badly broken, and it needs a bridge loan to begin the healing process. And this can and must be structured in a manner that achieves the objectives without unfair and inappropriate bailouts. The devil is in the details. But to toss aside the call for action is, in my opinion, playing a dangerous and unnecessary game.

Mohamed El-Eria, Co-CEO of the huge bond fund PIMCO, wrote this in the FT yesterday:

As is now widely recognised, left to their own devices, US financial markets simply could not accommodate the large and simultaneous shrinkage of multiple balance sheets without major damage to institutions and, critically, the system. Last week, the damage had migrated to the essential component of any financial system - the smooth functioning of cash, collateral and counterparty risk management.

You would think all this would be too arcane for the politicians to take notice until it was too late. Yet they did because disruptions affected money market funds and, as such, became a real and present danger to the average American. In these circumstances, the authorities had no option but to act urgently. They did so by coming up with a bold and targeted multifaceted approach.