The bail-out: the questions no one is asking

From Right Wing Nation:

Have you noticed that the only numbers we’re getting is the amount of the bailout? In the last couple of days, I’ve heard 700 billion and 1 trillion. But you know, there are some things we — not to mention Congress — need to know.

First, what will be the estimated economic cost of the bailout?

Second, what will be the estimated economic cost of no bailout?

Surely, economists somewhere are calculating these numbers, right? If the cost of the bailout is greater than the cost of no bailout, then passing a bailout bill would be insane. No informed decision can be made without these two numbers, so I repeat, economists are calculating them somewhere, surely?

Unfortunately, I doubt it. I’m sure this will be decided with no data or reference to cost or the real world. It’s a Democratic Congress, after all.

Precisely.

Have you ever taken apart something like an old clock and tried to fix it only find that you've now broken it beyond repair and have to throw it away and buy a new one?

Or even more aptly: have you ever tried to "fix" some "broken" human situation like a quarrelsome team of employees that you inherited from previous bad management only to find that the problems started so long ago and are so deep and complex that the best thing to do is fire them all and start from scratch?

Is it worth fixing some gizmo that is so patched together that it's a hodge-podge of rubber bands and duct tape (caused by previous attempts to fix it) or should we just throw it away and get a new gizmo? Some things are so rotten to the core that they are not worth saving.