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Elections

Houstonians Unsure of Bailout

While Congress scrambles to come up with a new Wall Street bail out plan, Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama is urging Americans to support the effort. But if the nation's top economist can't agree on a solution, how is the average American supposed to know what's right?
Bill Stamps spoke with some average Houstonians about the matter.

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“I think it is something the government needs to get together and try to decide on something.”

Sales Counselor James Bingley says he’s been following the Wall Street fiasco in the media. And while he’s not sure if the bail out is the right answer, he believes something has to be done.

“I know I lost about two-thousand dollars in my 401K in the last 24 hours, so I think it is as bad as they think. If they don’t turn around it could end up being worse.”

Like James, many people know a little bit about what’s going on. But the subject matter is so confusing and complicated, they don’t know what to think.

“They crashed and burned yesterday.”

Merelda Thornton is one of those people.

“Yeah I think it’s way over people’s head. All I know is they see that stocks are plummeting, people are losing homes and it’s just hard for people to make ends meet. It’s just hard for everybody, even corporate America.”

Merelda admits not knowing enough about economics or Wall Street to have a good opinion. But she still has an opinion.

“I think I heard Joy Beyhart say this on The VIew, they didn’t bail out the homeowners when they were losing their homes. So why are we going to bail out the fat cats. 700-billion dollars, that’s a whole lot of money. That’s a whole lot of money.”

Bill Stamps kuhf Houston Public Radio News.

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