Over the weekend, the government provided liquid assets to Bear Stearns and held $30bn of Bear's most questionable assets - mortgaged backed securities. In addition, the Fed opened the discount window to include investment banks and dropped interest rates by another 75bp. These signs indicate that the Fed has pulled out all the stops to provide stability to financial markets. To date, the Fed has made $650bn available. But, there is also an implicit guarantee that the Fed will provide more money to other struggling financial institutions. Had these measures not been taken, the financial system may have become completely crippled and had disastrous effects on the "real economy."

Snapshot asks, should tax payers, who will ultimately pay for these losses, support this rescue?

Wall Street Journal - The Bear Precedent
Econbrowser - Not a Bailout
Washington Post - The Fed Can't do it Alone
Bloomberg - Reid Calls Bear Stearns `Bailout' Unfair to Taxpayers