UberBailout Away!

UberBailout passes the House 263-171.

Among the 20 converts was Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Illinois, his chief of staff, Kenneth Edmonds, said.

Edmonds said Jackson was changing his vote because "he received assurances from (Sen. Barack Obama) that, if elected, his administration will aggressively use authority in the bill to prevent foreclosures and stabilize the housing market."

Rep. Howard Coble, R-North Carolina, said he plans to switch his vote because constituents began urging him to do so. He said the people he represents initially urged him to oppose the plan.

"By having waited, I think we did improve the bill," he said. "Inaction is not an option.'

Other Republicans who said they planned to change their votes to support the bill included Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, Rep. John Sullivan of Oklahoma, Rep. Jim Ramstad of Minnesota, Rep. John Shadegg of Arizona and Rep. Sue Myrick of North Carolina.

Myrick told reporters that "it's the best thing for the country.

"I don't care about politics....I may lose this race over this vote, but I don't care ... It needs to be about what's right for the country."

Stock markets are up about 1% at this hour. LIBOR is still drum tight...unless it relaxes over the weekend and into Monday morning, we're in real trouble. This bailout's not going to help the credit markets.

Even if Congress approves the plan, Fisher said, the Federal Reserve may need to take steps to stabilize the commercial paper market that companies use for short-term credit.

John Ryding, chief economist and founding partner of RDQ Economics, a research firm, said that the world's central banks should guarantee the repayment of loans between banks, a move that the Irish government took this week. Currently banks are reluctant to even lend to one another, making normal transactions difficult.

"We can stand behind these banks collectively, or we can end up bailing them out one at a time," he said.

And how many billions...or trillions...will it take to fix these?