Mr. McCain saying he would suspend his campaign to help broker a solution and calling on Mr. Obama to postpone their first debate, scheduled for Friday night.

I'm working on some bad-ass economic shit right now! I have no time for politics!

Democrats in Congress... were reluctant to tie Mr. Obama’s hands by authorizing a lame-duck administration to spend money he hoped to use to expand access to health care, foster research for renewable energy and cut taxes for the middle class.

In the light of this article the whole thing appears to be some sort of cynical election year ploy, in which McCain is able to keep himself and Palin out of the hotseat while simultaneously putting a huge amount of money in the absolute and unreviewable control of one of the Bush team's Nixon administration buddies. If the Democrats win, all of that money, unfortunately, will have to be spent on bad debt which won't be worth anything in the end. Obama will not be able to make progress on any of his social programs because the national debt and plummeting US dollar will be in an untenable situation. If the Republicans win, however, it will turn out that only 100 billion was needed. Things weren't so bad after all...

News Analysis - For the Nominees, New Roles and New Risks - News Analysis - NYTimes.com