Congress now tells us that it has put off a vote on any Detroit bailout until after Thanksgiving. It warns the Big Three that it had better come up with a viable plan to use the money to get back on track or the check will not be written.

Iceland today (Thursday) secured nearly $11 billion in loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other nations. The bailout will help the island nation stabilize its currency and recapitalize its banks, but it will also saddle its tiny population with a huge debt burden.

Trading Theme returns…  Automakers’ bailout vote today…  Not using all your arrows…  Housing Starts go back to 1959! And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

First Congress authorized $700 billion — quite a bit more than the entire Department of Defense budget — for some sort of “troubled asset relief plan (TARP).” (Nobody ever really explained it to my satisfaction. Somehow we were going to throw money at a very big problem and fix it.) Then the money flowed like rainwater to Wall Street and a bunch of banks. Then the banks and Wall Street houses continued to pay their insiders’ big salaries and bonuses.

Don’t look now, but China has just displaced Japan as the leading holder of U.S. Treasury debt.

Paulson says no to automakers…  Currencies trade in a tight range…  Richard Russell on a Wednesday!  TIC Flows improve… And Now… Today’s Pfennig!

Executives from Detroit’s “Big Three” auto companies – General Motors Corp. (GM), Ford Motor Co. (F), and Chrysler LLC – yesterday (Tuesday) joined Congressional Democrats on Capitol Hill to make the case for an industry-wide bailout that could spare their troubled companies from totally collapsing. Detroit’s bigwigs have been met with considerable resistance so far, but will continue to make their case today and into the New Year.

The Big Three are up on Capitol Hill, making their case for a government bailout. Andrew Snyder says investors can position themselves to make a profit with auto-related stocks. He picks three companies on the auto supply chain that could get a boost if the government decides to “rescue” Detroit.

Investors are fleeing the stock market as the rules of the game keep changing. But if you know what the next shift will be, you can stay ahead of the curve. Shah Gilani outlines the five coming “aftershocks” of this financial crisis, and what they mean for your portfolio.

Andrew Snyder says the temporary economic pain of allowing General Motors (NYSE:GM) to fail is better than propping up a lost cause with public money. He says its time to let GM go and allow the process of creative destruction to work freely.