Thank You!

In the midst of a world-wide financial crisis, the American people and the world markets are turning to the Federal Government for help and guidance through these financial troubled waters.

Congress passed, and President Bush signed, a $700 Billion financial rescue plan on October 3, 2008 and the Treasury department, lead by Secretary Henry Paulson swept into action to put the machinery in place to grease the gears of government to get them moving...swiftly, surely toward recovery. And anyone who has worked in government knows this is no easy task.

The Department of Treasury then set an incredibly short timetable to pick the companies that will help manage the $700 billion bail-out. Monday morning, the agency told financial firms their due date was Wednesday to present asset management proposals which would oversee the mortgage related assets being purchased. Treasury officials could begin awarding those contracts by today.

The interim head of the rescue team is Neel Kashkari who was named on Monday. He had been serving as Treasury's assistant Secretary for international affairs before taking over the financial effort.

Just as we all pulled for the Olympic athletes who competed in Beijing this summer, I hope the entire country is pulling for the government to succeed in this. We would do well to recognize and appreciate the swift action, dedication and hard work of the people working in all the financial agencies within the government to solve this problem.

It's not just Treasury putting in long, grueling hours to solve this problem: it's the entire economic team. The Federal Reserve, The Securities and Exchange Commission, The Federal Deposit Insurance Commission, and Housing and Urban Development and many other agencies who are giving it a yeoman's effort to improve the health of financial institutions across the country.

There are estimates that $2 Trillion dollars in savings have evaporated over the last 15 months due to declines in the market. So who gets the blame for the problem? Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, The Democrats, and Republicans? Those issues will be decided later.

All that matters now is that we solve the problem before it becomes a long and lingering recession.

And my thanks go out to all the Federal Government Employees who are working so hard to turn this thing around.

Jane Norris is a former fed and current host of the Federal Drive. You can reach her at jnorris@federalnewsradio.com