Okay, okay. I get it.

Wall Street’s in trouble. The market’s imploding. Capitalism is in its death throes. Lenders are taking their lines of credit and going home. The Treasury Secretary and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve are pleading with Congress to give them 700 billion (that’s with a ‘B’) dollars to bail out the banks by buying up their bad debt. Not for what it’s worth, which is nothing. But for what the banks want it to be worth.

And without saying that this huge gift of tax dollars will actually do any good.

I understand all this.

But, I can’t shake the gnawing, persistent suspicion that this move will go down in history as one of the biggest con jobs pulled on the American people by the Wall Street greedmeisters ever.

I guess I’m not the only one harboring such suspicions. Which is why the bipartisan bailout plan went down in flames over the House floor today.

Which is probably good.

After all, nationalizing the American economy should take more than a week.