"get the first boat to the old colonies" . . . If you want opportunity you better catch one to Canada, not here, especially seeing how taxes are going to go after "The One" becomes prez!

Oh, the bailout will work (sort of), but it is bitter for the reasons Mr. Waller states in his fourth paragraph.

Hap, Bellingham, US

Not a word about ethics, social solidarity, more of the same. Tthe people will continue to be swindled by lawyers, accountants and banks and private monopolies.

paul, London,

Look on the bright side: none of us were any happier during the decadence of the last 40 years.

Maybe subsistence derived from your own efforts will make you content, compared to that 'prosperity'which was built upon artifice and the suffering of others.

John, Brest, France

Why have we got to rescue the banking system? Let it implode and then spend tax payers money picking up the pieces. It is the only way to really purge the rot that has reached to the very core of the international banking system. Why save a rotten apple so that it can infect all the other apples?

Simon, London, UK

"And please disregard anyone who claims we are there , or anywhere there yet"

Talk is cheap Mr Waller. Put all your assets on the line to back up your words and we will begin to take you seriously. Your mates made the same worthless noises about the housing market: why should we believe you now?

anthony, london, england

I grew up in the 50's. If we are to save the world we need to get back there. I remember people being happy with what they had, not much perhaps but jobs were for life. We did'nt need credit. Money does not always equal happyness, look at todays mess.

John, Buckley, Flintshire

You have all just been conned !

OZ, Perth, Australia

Hey, thanks Martin. Always nice to be called a 'cockroach'. Would it make you feel better to see us NHS nurses suffer a bit more?

Ben Hall, Haywards Heath, West Sussex

The 1950s were not so bad. I grew up on a council estate in the North of England in that period. My parents had very little money not even a bank account, but they did have a decent sized garden in which they grew their own vegetables and kept chickens.They did not need to lock their door at night

sheila, LEICESTER,

It's easy and natural to point one's anger at the speculators but the real failure was for Pension Fund managers to lend out shares for others to devalue - why would they do that? ; for banks and fund managers to expose their deposits to private equity to speculate with - were they stupid?

david, Gloucs,

It will work; It will let the guilty walk away; That's all it was intended to do.

Eric Skelton, Cardiff, Wales

From L Davison of Sydney - far, far away - comes a very lofty and high-minded view. Those struggling with ballooning taxes, oppressive bureaucracy and petty officialdom can be forgiven for feeling angry. Condescension from the other side of the world is not what they need.

Neil, Galloway, Scotland

We are in the 'eye of the storm' as they say, but unlike a hurricane this one is going to last a lot longer. There will now have to be great political and social change over the next decade or so - a smaller Public sector & less consumerism , but how do we get there?

Stephen Marchant, Newton Abbot, UK

May not work? Won't work more like! It's a measure of last resort pilloried by real experts like Soros. Devised by those responsible for this mess through their greed and inability to forsee coincident events. Money is just paper as events will soon prove. Hold tight on this ride to a better world!

Chris, London,

This was all planed and there is nothing we can do!

Dave Bridge, Southport, UK

We'll all be working for the Government soon.

Maybe Karl Marx was right after all ?

Francis Cousins, Wrington, UK

While the article overall isn't bad, it seems unpleasantly mean spirited to describe people who don't lose their jobs as "like cockroaches in a nuclear winter". In fact it seems like pandering to the worst instincts of ones smallest-minded readers.

Laurence Davison, Sydney, Australia

Sounds like the Millenium bug!

Tim, Canberra, Australia

I believe we are in for a very very hard times, I think the baleout in the USA does not touch the surface of the problem and Gordon Brown is incapable of doing anything practical for the tax payers of this country hence enter good old Peter who can now provide the sleeze.

christine marshall, tunbridge wells, England

The only logical thing to do if you are an educated, skilled worker, especially with youth in your side, is to get the first boat to the old colonies. Much like many did in the fifties.

John P_T, reigate,

The bailout much like throwing a cocktail party to celebrate AA members one year without a drink will not work. Those in charge of making this bailout necessary will not change. Giving the alcohol to these addicted fools will only serve to further push world economies even lower.

Richard Williams, oklahoma city, usa