
On Wednesday night, the US Senate passed, by a margin of 74-25, a renovated version of the same Paulson rescue bill that the House rejected on Monday. The Paulson proposal has stayed relatively intact however, with the central new additions to the bill taking the form of tax breaks and increased federal deposit protection. Ellen Frank believes that this is a terrible bill, passed without sufficient discussion, and that it has been forced upon us through scaremongering and image conjuring of a new depression, something Ellen feels the US is not vulnerable to in the way it was in 1929. She also explains her fear that this bill will handcuff future administrations from implementing progressive government programs.