Less Bailout, More Job Stimulus?

The financial system bailout is soaking up less taxpayer dollars than originally anticipated - about $200 billion less. That according to a Treasury department official who cites faster repayment and lower spending by the bailed-out institutions as reasons for the unexpected funds availability. The funds are now potentially available for reprogramming by Congress for an enhanced job stimulus effort, barring an effort by Rethugs to derail it for "deficit reduction" (their holy grail, now that they're not in power to create trillion dollar deficits themselves). Let's hope the Dems get it done, because as Speaker Pelosi says, a jobs creation program is the best deficit reduction program.