House bails on bailout bill and stocks plummet

The House said "Oh, hells no" to coughing up $700 billion to bail out Wall Street.  The bill would have given the U.S. Trasury a $700 billion line of credit to buy the bad mortages, securities and financial assets that are undermining the security of the U.S. economy and threatening to send the country into a recession. 

The final vote was 228 to 205 against passing the bill.  Members of both parties voted across parties lines.

When it started looking like the bill wouldn't pass, the Dow fell by as much as 700 points.  If you don't follow the stock market, all you need to know is that's not a good thing.