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I think the stick save will have to be epic to change the mood. Only thing I can think of is some sort of tax holiday, or possibly volckler replacing turbotaxtimmy as sec of treasury (don't think that will happen

I think Geithner is gone by summer, if not sooner. I don't think Bernake will not make it to end of his term in '10. Maybe he will serve out his full term but I don't see it, with whats going down in the markets.

Volcker is 82 years old, I doubt he has the energy or strength to face one of the worst tasks that a person will ever have to face, trying to right the ship of the worlds largest economy. Volcker and Reagan worked hard to get stagflation under control but it came with a deep recession(which was not too popular with the voters). Knowing that Volcker raised interest rates to over 20% in the 1980s will not sit too well with barry and more importantly, Lawerence Summers.

Summers appears to be calling the shots right now, and Geithner is getting some input but he is probably serving more a yes-man. I think Bernake cares what is happening and wants to do the right thing but Summers is over ruling him and Bernake is just waiting for his term to expire in 2010 so he can get out of Dodge.

Then you have the Clueless ones, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Blarny Flank, Rahm and others on the left who are wanting to tax and spend like there is no tommorow. I think Dodd is pretty smart and realizes the monster that he help create and I think he is trying to quietly wiggle his way out of this mess and ride off into the sunset unscathed.

As you have stated, the real solution is for us to bite the bullet, take our losses and reset. But that is politically unpopular and politically a near impossiblity. People do not like to see the value of thier 401ks, stocks, and other assets plummet(which was the reason that the GOP got skunked in 2008).

But Mr Market has been letting the air out of this huge giagantic bubble.