The current crisis on Wall Street stems in large part from the housing crisis-to which the Cleveland area is no stranger. One person who knows foreclosures-and their effects-well is Cuyahoga County treasurer Jim Rokakis. He has serious reservations about the bailout.
ROKAKIS: Is there going to be anything in this bailout that will make anything available for Cleveland? Anything in this bailout to help Cuyahoga County deal with these empty properties. And the answer, of course, is no, there's nothing in there.
To be fair, many Democrats on Capitol Hill share his concern and are looking to add provisions to help homeowners-including allowing some mortgages to be renegotiated. But for cities like Cleveland, Rokakis thinks the federal government is way behind.
ROKAKIS: Unless they have a brilliant strategy to repopulate the 25,000 vacant houses in Cuyahoga County, this doesn't really do enough for us.
Other local democrats agree. Senator Sherrod Brown issued a statement saying that the bailout must also help those on Main Street, though Brown's office didn't offer a specific proposal.
And, Congressman Dennis Kucinich is calling for a plan that is, shall we say, true to form. He'd like create what he calls a Mutual Trust Fund, which would convert the $700 billion into shares that would be distributed to every American - about $2,300-worth each. That would give citizens equity interest in the bailout, he says.
Whatever the solution, there are some potential boons for the local economy.
John Carroll University economist Roy Brooks says regional banks like National City will benefit.
BROOKS: it gives them the ability to take some of their toxic debt and take it off their balance sheet, and sell it to this essentially large market-maker that we're going to now have, which is the US Treasury, which is creating a market for stuff where there were no prices before.
National City, which earlier in the year required an infusion of capitol to stay afloat, declined to comment until more details on the government plan are finalized.
Brooks says, the news that investment firms Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs will become commercial banks could have effects on regional firms.
BROOKS: Oh I will think it will be more competition for banks here. I think what you're going to see, during this whole phase, maybe nationwide up to 1000 smaller banks will disappear. This will allow Morgan Stanley to get into more commercial, retail banking.
That said, Brooks believes Morgan and Goldman would have a tough time breaking into markets like Northeast Ohio with strong regional players. Besides competition, Brooks says the bailout will likely have two immediate effects: more inflation, and easier access to credit for everyone.
REPORTER: So, to be a bit of a cynic, is it fair to say that people are going to need to use some of that more-available credit to pay for the higher cost of groceries and everything?
BROOKS: I'd say that's a possibility.