On the street, much uneasiness over bailout plan

But many fear the fallout from taking no action

"They're going from billionaires to millionaires." - Abby Friedlander (left, with friend James Coughlin), Back Bay resident and first-year law student at Suffolk University, on having little sympathy for the CEOs of some of the large financial firms (Globe Staff Photo / Dina Rudick)

As details of the $700 billion rescue plan being molded by lawmakers became more concrete yesterday, many New Englanders remained uneasy about what would be the largest government intervention in financial markets since the Great Depression.

Most of about a dozen people interviewed in downtown Boston yesterday afternoon said they thought the government's massive bailout was rushed, worried it would have unpredictable consequences, and felt it was unfair that taxpayers had to be tapped to correct a problem caused by Wall Street financiers.

"What the government is doing is nationalizing the country's financial market," said Stanford Webb, 55, a Medford resident who works for a biotech company. "I have some concerns as to the long-term effects because so much of an individual's savings are tied up in 401(k) plans" that could continue to lose value because of the financial crisis.

Still, some said that while they were not thrilled about the government's approach, they feared the financial crisis would only get worse without the intervention.

"Something has to be done right away, but at the same time it needs to be thought out," said Peter Emerling, 28, a financial analyst from Beacon Hill who was walking his dog on Tremont Street in front of the Boston Common and sipping on an iced drink from Starbucks. "America as a whole [fell into the crisis]. It's all of our fault."

After days of bipartisan congressional negotiations, lawmakers yesterday revealed the key points of the rescue plan, which would give the administration power to spend billions of dollars to buy mortgage-related assets held by struggling financial firms in an effort to encourage them to keep lending.

The plan includes provisions to let the government insure some of the bad loans instead of buying them, and would require the government to make a plan for recovering its losses after five years. There would also be a limit on how much compensation the executives of the companies can get - a relief to those taxpayers who have little sympathy for the CEOs of some of these large financial firms.

"They're going from billionaires to millionaires," said Abby Friedlander, 23, a Back Bay resident and first-year law student at Suffolk University, who was taking a coffee break from studying yesterday afternoon.

Friedlander and her friend James Coughlin, 23, said they don't have mortgages to worry about but are curious about how recent events will affect their student loans. Coughlin said he thought intervention was inevitable.

"I think we need more government regulation," said Coughlin, of Quincy. "I think if we don't do it, the whole world market will crash."

Donna Sagner, 54, from Bangor, who was walking in Downtown Crossing with her husband, Ron, questioned whether the bailout would benefit the average American.

"I want to see something that's going to protect the middle class, because our income is shrinking," said Sagner, a registered nurse who is taking on extra shifts and said her 401(k) has deteriorated in the past few weeks. "I work hard, and I'm tired of my money being taken from me."