Bail Or Bust?

This column was written by CBS News Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

Is this a rush to judgment? The $700 billion bailout is getting a second look and serious questions are being raised on the left and right.

Republican senator Richard Shelby called the emergency package, "Neither workable nor comprehensive."

Democrat Dick Durbin said in the senate that, "just as they should have asked more questions about weapons of mass destruction six years ago, maybe we need to be asking more questions about this too."

Will the world really come to an end if these banks aren't bailed out?

Where are the Wall Street titans now, who claim that markets must be left alone to do their work?

Yes, thousands and thousands of jobs are at stake. New York is already talking about raising taxes to meet projected shortfalls.

But, surely the same people who wrought this mess can be left to run the institutions that brought us to this brink in the first place. Let them be paid what the president makes, and see if they decide to stick around.