Hi gwr1 et.al.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but we have enough laws in place to solve these "toxic" problems without using taxpayer bailout monies, do we not?

If the sellers (snake-oil salesmen) are guilty of mis-representation to the marketplace, that is considered Fraud: a criminal offence, and if the buyers are too stupid to do proper "DD", the marketplace has its own way of dealing with them.

Doling out "Bailout money" is no different than succumbing to ransom (extortion);something that governments do not do? when faced with kidnapping etc.

Guess we know were the proper priorities are!

Suggest also, listening to the following link (from today's Ed Steer column)

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04232010/watch.html

Good Luck to all!