President Bush has spoken. Hank Paulsen's $700 billion solution may be the best idea out there, but it will leave the world's economy with an empty pantry if it is not used to replenish and sustain or if it is exposed in the slightest way to the greedy nearsightedness that created the problem.

With markets created and harnessed honestly, the concept has a good chance at working.

The Paulson fund can be the start of a top down, bottom up approach that returns us to markets honestly managed. No other solution will work. We must not lose faith in markets. What caused this was abrogation of market discipline, not honest markets.

Committed wisely and with exquisite skill, the $700 billion solution should form the capital base of an actively managed fund, run for the people by those who embrace their fiduciary duty to the public – men and women whose credentials invite scrutiny, men and women who understand markets, with the benefit of their work accruing to Uncle Sam and the people..

Traded wisely, the Paulson fund itself could make so much money for Uncle Sam, the nation’s deficit would be reduced, while all the while, a market would emerge that would ultimately solve the mess with proper disclosure and market-making discipline.

Used to save the few at the expense of all, the Paulson fund would be socialism for the wealthy to bathe in, oblivious of the public good.

The Paulson fund has the potential of being very, very good, or very, very bad.

Used unwisely, the money authorized by Congress will be used to bail out those who caused this mess, those with connections in Washington, those whose excuse for solvency leaves much to the imagination. Not a single dollar of the $700 billion can be allowed to become a windfall for the few who have hurt us all, only to solve nothing and perpetuate this disaster for the United States and its trading partners.