It is to be hoped that George W Bush's rescue package will help stabilise the United States economy, relieving the pressures that have been forcing our economic fortunes downward.

It has been a hard fight with a Congress that clearly has little faith in this accident-prone administration.

Although Prime Minister Rudd, along with many other Western leaders, exhorted Congress to agree to this bailout, the reservations of US legislators are easy to understand. In a matter of weeks Congress will face American voters, who are stirred up. Much of the electorate was understandably unimpressed with the idea of spending taxpayer dollars to bail out those predator financial institutions many blame for this credit crisis.

In the end, the rescue package was passed unenthusiastically by Congress to everyone's relief.

However, serious doubts remain about it, and recovery may not be just around the corner.

The bailout is certainly welcome by the financial institutions, the spinal column of a capitalist free-market economy.

There was no real alternative to this action to arrest the downward plunge. The $800 billion package may seem huge, but just how far it will go to get the US economy back on track will depend on its implementation.

Australia should not let this crisis pass without taking a critical look at the functioning of our own economic system. Our banking system may be sound, but there are unattended problems in our version of the modern capitalist system.

It is too driven by the kind of greed and opportunism that underlies the present crisis.

There is too little focus on the common good; on the welfare of those of us who get caught up in the weaknesses of the system. Let's face it, the free market is anything but free. Much is made of those buzzwords transparency and accountability, much loved by our politicians. In the end it widens income disparities, leaving us less free - captives of an increasingly uncompetitive economic environment.