The US people have had their fate decided when they freed Wall Street from necessary surveillance under the rethoric of laissez-faire. This is playing fire, and the CDSs are crazy! True, No money = no credit, but is credit supposed to be longevous when assets poured in a huge casino are worth 10 times of the global GDP? When financial crisis erupted in Asia, IMF told the victim countries to tighten their policy, close banks and raise interest rates (which meant: let the carcass decay and let those fireplayers fall on their own), and consequently the crisis exploded. If the US followed suit today, it would be stupid. This is simply not a matter of wether to save somebody else,the whole national economy - fanancial market and stocks, investment and job market - are interlaced. The gaints on Wall Street are simply "too big to fall", if you don't want to taste the bitterness of a terrible credit breakdown, then pay the price over time - remember, not only taxpayers are paying, almost every country holds US T-bonds. A pity the congressmen wouldn't listen to foreigners.