The loss in equity in the markets today was $400 billion more than the cost of the bailout package. We (family) are more in the red due to the "no" vote than the $2,300 x 4 people in debt burden the bill represented. Panic indeed.
That's one valid way of looking at it. But, there's nothing scientific about any of this--nobody even can say with high confidence that the $700 Billion infusion would have worked. Would it have made those houses with the inflated mortgages suddenly worth those inflated prices? No, the cash didn't fix the fundamental problem, so the problem very well could have persisted. How would we feel if we'd thrown in this money and still had an economic meltdown?
And then there's the whole "marking to market" viewpoint question. It's true that our net worth has gone down by the amounts that our portfolios lost today. But I just don't feel like I've lost money until I sell those stocks at lower prices. Not so with the tax bill: Once that is on the books, I know I'm going to pay it (or our kids will).