One big issue that has been raised with the bailout is the "moral hazard" problem:
If the Wall Street firms get bailed out of their problems and don't feel the pain that their risky behavior has caused, they might repeat that behavior in the future.
Letting them fail lets them feel the pain, but then a lot of innocent Americans would feel the pain too, which is not fair.
So I suggest a compromise. The bailout passes, but Wall Street needs to feel some pain. This would be the price of the bailout, and it would restore the sense on Wall Street that the bailout does not come without cost, and that risk can materialize.
Here's how it would work:
On the day the bailout legislation is signed, put the Fortune 500 CEOs in an auditorium, and have them all put their business cards in a big drum, like Bingo night.
Dick Cheney draws names at random from the drum. As the first business card is drawn, the CEO comes to the podium, and Cheney shoots him in front of all the other CEOs and on live TV (give Fox News the exclusive on this).
Cheney then draws 9 other names, and shoots 9 more CEOs, one by one.
This approach addresses the "moral hazard" issue, with minimal loss of American lives (still 4,181 less than Iraq, for example).
Plus, Dick Cheney gets to shoot people, so he has an incentive to participate.
"Why stop at 10?" some of you may ask. A fair question. For the CEOs in the auditorium, by the time Cheney gets up to number 10, I think the point will be well made.
But of course, in the legislative process, everything is negotiable.