As Wall Street, President Bush, Congress and the presidential candidates wrangle over how best to calm investors, reassure the credit markets, and stabilize the economy, we can't help noticing a prominent element of the many proposed rescues. Each one, at times in increasing proportion, involves huge hikes in the already staggering federal budget deficit and national debt, which takes its own toll on the economy. While some kind of Wall Street bailout is widely viewed by experts and politicians on both sides of the aisle as a necessary evil to halt a crisis so wide many cities, businesses and individuals are unable to raise needed cash, critics of the bill in its current form have been meeting with William Isaac, an architect of a 1980s savings and loan bailout whose ideas so far haven't involved taxpayer funds.

The ripple effects of the turmoil that began here have governments around the world scrambling to safeguard their most important financial institutions and have led to both calls for an international conference to forge new financial regulations and reform global economic institutions and new questions about U.S. leadership in the financial sector. Even in countries where most citizens are unlikely to follow the stock market or big business news, the echo of recent rocky times in the U.S. is being felt. In Mexico - where money sent home by Mexicans living in the United States is Mexico's second largest source of income, exceeded only by oil revenue – there's been a 19 percent drop in how much cash got sent back to Mexico. No numbers yet on how other Latin American and Caribbean nations are being affected, but according to a Pew Hispanic Center study, the total cash normally received is in the tens of billions, with the impact no longer limited to the countryside or the poor.

In Congress and on Main Street USA, which the candidates have been repeatedly referencing as the battle rages over what to do about the economy, there are important decisions to be made and we strongly recommend that voters consult our nonpartisan Voter's Survival Kit now and before Election Day, to learn more about different approaches to economic health and the escalating federal budget crisis.