Mortgage...

... The term comes from the Old French "dead pledge," (Wikipedia)

The vote on the Big Bank Bailout Bill failed. Surprising, a little bit. After all, back in classical times, even the galley slaves started bailing when the Trireme started to take on water. And, like them, I remind you, we are all chained to the oars!
Still, as some of the more (ahem)Republican of Republicans have proposed, the gov't. can fund the bailout the same way it has been funding the rest of it's expenditures: With a Tax Cut. That's worked pretty well so far now, hasn't it?
Something that seems to have gone unnoticed - like What The Dog Did In The Night - is that passing these bundled "Mortgage Based Securities" around the table does nothing to help anybody (except the Wizards of Wall Street, of course). If you, chained to the oars as you are, have a mortgage you can't afford, after this deal is done, you still won't be able to afford it! Changing ownership of the securities changes nothing about the mortgages themselves. If the Banks are "recapitalized", do we any of us believe they will return to the lending policies that saddled them with a lot of crappy non-performing loans? Re-financing the same property with the same lending terms does approximately... umm... lessee here... OH! Nothing! Plus, the new new new Oversight Authority (whatever it turns out to be), won't permit those sloppy lending practices again. Sorry, One To A Customer, and you've had yours already.
If the value of the property is less than the value of the mortgage, Somebody has to take a loss. Currently, and I predict for the forseeable future, that will be YOU.
Give the banks all the money they can find room to store; they still aren't going to give any of it to you. Too Bad!