Don't Punish Us For Their Misdeeds, Residents Say

They don't want to pay for other people's mistakes.

The consensus among local men and women on the street is that the taxpayers should not "bail out" those chief executives who they think have caused the plummeting Dow Jones Industrial Average and mortgage crisis.

"It's a crisis for sure," said Jeff Davis, of Brooksville. "They want to help the tycoons ... I don't want that. I think if the government wants to get the money back, they should get it from the guys who are flying high."

Davis is worried about the looming $700 billion mortgage bail-out fund designed to stop the bleeding in a hemorrhaging economy.

Investment giant and Berkshire Hathaway Chief Executive Officer Warren Buffet has compared the current economic climate to the attacks on Pearl Harbor. His suggestion is for Congress to approve the plan and enact the bailout. If the government walks away, he said, the situation could get much worse.

Most local residents do not share Buffet's point of view.

"I feel terrible they're going to take it away from us," said Clare Anderson, who was sipping coffee at Starbucks Wednesday afternoon. "It just scares me. I have 20 grandkids and this is all going to be passed down to them."

The mere mention of the $700 billion bailout already has helped matters, based on recent trends on Wall Street. When word of the plan got out last week, the stock market rebounded by 410.03 points.

Many Republicans in Congress have been reluctant to endorse the plan because it requires too much intrusion by the federal government, something they have publicly opposed during their re-election bids. Democrats have sworn they would not move on it without Republican support.

"I'm against it," said 28-year-old Lecanto resident Melissa Ray, of the proposed plan. "They're bailing out the banks and letting all the consumers suffer."

"There is a lot of blame to go around for everybody," said Julie Gilmour, of Brooksville. "Banks were loaning out too much to those without credentials and too many people who knew they couldn't afford things were going in for loans."

The sudden developments have changed the landscape of the presidential election. Anderson is unsure whether the candidates have the answers.

"I don't think McCain can fix it," she said. "I don't think (Obama) can either."