Some great questions to ask

Over at PoynterOnline, Jim Romenesko has posted some terrific questions posed by David Cay Johnston that need to be asked, and to which answers need to be DEMANDED from Paulson and the Cheney administration regarding the proposed $700 billion "bail out".

Is there a market solution to this? If so, why impose a government solution? If not what does that tell us about our entire economic theory?

Is there a less expensive solution?

How do we know this will not just be a downpayment on a much bigger bailout?

If AIG and others are too big to fail, what does that tell us about government anti-trust policy and regulatory policy and inaction?

Why have both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley made clear that they want IN on this deal? Get skeptical and ask the basic questions -- who benefits, how much and what makes this plan so attractive that Goldman and MS want to participate? Ditto for GE. That they [and] others want to be included should prompt a great deal of skeptical questioning.