Bailout?

I have been thinking a lot recently about the options we have for how to deal with the requested bailout by the Big Three. I had an interesting conversation with a friend about it today, and we agree that although sinking more money into the issue is perhaps not the most efficient thing we could do, we have set the precedent in terms of the larger $700 billion bailout, and it would be a bit hypocritical not to follow through. On the other hand, do we really need more cars? The answer is of course not. Given that the economy is in recession, and we are probably entering a depression, perhaps we should cut our losses and make more long-term investments in things like infrastructure and public transportation.
This, however, would require a significant amount of capital, something that is sorely lacking at the mooment. Obama has promised to provide money for these things, but I’m not sure where he’s planning to get it, given that we have such a huge deficit, and owe unimaginable amounts of money to other countries.
I am very interested to see how the bailout bill unfolds, what sort of oversight there is, what sort of long-term plans are being made, and where the money’s coming from. Other than straight from our pockets, that is.