Jesse E. Dampier

“I think the package is not that good because it doesn’t deal with the taxpayers-it only deals with the top people in those organizations. As for the ordinary taxpayer, they should allow them to get money back instead of paying out money.”

Donald Cole

“We may not feel the pressure right now, but later on down the line, let’s say some of our children-the young adults-are going to feel the real pressure. Who’s going to pay for it? They are steady saying the taxpayer will not pay that much. How much is that much? You will be able to find out when you get your pay check and all of sudden there is another tax increase. As for what should they do for ordinary taxpayers, they bamboozle a lot of people-giving you a quick mortgage you can’t pay. They need a moratorium on mortgages for the ordinary taxpayer to help them out.

Jerry Wordlaw

“I don’t think they should pass the economic bill as it stands. It is hard for me to trust Bush or any of his advisors. They got us in the situation we’re in right now. Sooner or later we’re going to have to pay for this. But the thing is: are the president, vice president and all these companies getting better, or are they going to get their bonuses [and] their golden parachutes when they get ready to retire? These guys should be made to bring some of this money back to their companies. These guys are making $5 to $6 million a year; now the company is under water. They ought to do something. Of course they don’t have that in the plan. As for the ordinary taxpayer, if there’s a bailout it should be for everybody because we’re going to have to pay for it in the end anyway. [Even] if it’s nothing but a moratorium until you can get on your feet.

Norvell Overstreet

“I don’t think that there should be a bailout. If there is a bailout, I think there should be a limit on the amount of money that you’re going to give these executives on their way out. They got us into this and they should not be rewarded with multi-million dollar parachutes. I’m a retired [General Electric] employee and GE is one of the companies asking for bailouts. For years and years I worked in manufacturing locomotive and they would take our profits and put it into the car industry. They were giving all the bonuses to the executives. But they didn’t take care of what they needed to do, and now they are in dire need and they want to be bailed out.”