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The reason to avoid foreclosure is that currently foreclosures are receiving about 50 cents on the dollar, furthermore that is only the ones that sell, most roughly 60% are not selling.  As a results, should the banks choose to foreclose they will have an unproductive asset (ie: no revenue, simply sitting there unable to be disposed of).  Again, not expressing an opinion on the bailout but that is why the government is advising most to avoid foreclosing.  One possible solution that could have been attempted, but is now too late is FHA refinancing available on all consumer mortgage loans.  The interest rate is fixed and the payment term is 30 years, a standard mortgage.  Most of these mortgages that are questionable now are no longer subprime but alt-A, which are not A paper loans but in between.  These tend to be exotic, pick-a-payment, interest only, etc.  No doubt, people should not have signed their mortgage w/o reading the paperwork, however, it has hasn't and in many cases that mortgage companies didn't disclose a lot of this information until closing, where I would gather that the signer felt pressured at that point in time.  However, like I said they are still responsible, I'm not absolving them of any blame.

Normally I don't post in the political section since i would be bulldozed for my opinions, so I won't express an opinion, however, your math is extremely faulty.  Try removing three zeros from the end of your "dividend" to each 18+ in the country.  A billion is a thousand million, it is impossible for 85 billion to divide out to 425000 per 18+, it is $425. Also, I know it probably has been mentioned but I simply missed it, but if one cannot relieve the stress in the credit markets (not expressing an opinion on the bailout simply stating a fact) many business (not just banks) will not be able to function and will inevitably fail.  This covers the entire cross section of the economy, businesses like retailers function utilizing credit terms to purchase goods to sell to us (Wal-Mart included), that is simply how such businesses are operated, most businesses do not keep their "cash" in fully liquid situations but rather in CDs or other semi-liquid assets and cover their expenses as revenue streams enter the business.  That is, granted, a drop in bucket and can be relieved by the business using their liquid assets, but one has to understand most retailers are most profitable during the holiday season (Day after Thanksgiving shopping DATG is referred to as Black Friday for a reason) and some retailers break even throughout the year and then are only really profitable during the holiday season.  I apologize for the rant, just thought I'd throw in the other side.

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Perhaps, before we completely discredit a response to a non-factual statement we should bother to read the information provided instead of providing a kneejerk reaction.  Should you have bothered to read the texts of the bills, whicha are available on both the IL state legislatures website as well as the text of the federal bill, available from the House of Representatives Clerks website, one would have discovered that there were differences between the two bills.  The bill that ended up passing in IL in '05 included protections that ensured that this bill would not override rights guaranteed under other federal and state laws which is similiar to what the federal bill contains.  However, the previous bills DID NOT include such protections, hence the vote against on one version and the present vote on the other.  One must note that there were several Republicans who voted against the bills as well, as they believed that the bill, once it became law, would be overturned by the USSC.

As someone who drives on those roads daily and 120 miles on Sunday, I have seen a good portion of them.  I would say that the candidate that is chosen to fill the position shouldn't just be qualified as a leader but also possess one trait very important of a leader: the ability to listen.  My fault w/the past leadership was its inability to listen to suggestions or modify the plan of attack.  To be able to succeed in today's economic and political environment, the ability to listen and adapt your approach to solving a problem is paramount.