The Wallstreeters are back their favorite habit: speculation especially since they heard that Congress was analyzing a subprime bailout. The housing market being the pillar of the economy, this must have influenced quite much the Dow, which appraoched the 13,000 benchmark amid a rare euphoria. But the bailout talks took place last week. And now it seems that the idea may not even see the day as Reuters explains:

The Democratic and Republican leaders of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee said on Wednesday they see no need for a federal bailout of the subprime mortgage lending industry… “I’m not interested in (a bailout) at this point. I think this problem can be addressed without going down that route,” said Sen. Chris Dodd, the Democratic chairman of the committee…. Sen. Richard Shelby, the most senior Republican on the panel, said he would be “unalterably opposed” to a costly federal program to rescue troubled mortgage borrowers and lenders…

But as CNN points out, restructuring the loans of troubled homeowners gets into murky territory because of the investors who hold the debt. This line says it all. Investors would hate to say bye-bye to ”some of the profits” boosted with easy money (losen lending standard and/or predatory practices). While loan restructuration is the only way to go ethically, the bailout is no solution. Yes, there have been many people fooled by the housing mirage but the strict bottom line is that we are responsible for our own actions.