The U.S. Treasury has agreed to lend $6 billion to GMAC LLC (GOM), the financing arm of General Motors Corp. (GM), in the latest government effort to keep the biggest U.S. automaker out of bankruptcy.

When the Treasury finally abandons its bailout programs and/or the executives at the cash-hemorrhaging finance companies finally exhibit more humility than chutzpah, the economy and the stock market will have reached the bottom.

“People”, counseled a colleague of mine, “don’t think logically. You have to appeal to their emotions”. And so it has been through the centuries. In politics. In love. And in money. Everyone wants a quick fix, an easy way out.