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Reactions to the financial market meltdown and proposed federal bailout run the gamut in the region's business community. For many, including Elinda Kiss, a University of Maryland professor of finance, the $700 billion federal bailout proposal raises more questions than it answers.

"Personally I think we do need regulation in the financial services. But if the government is taking over the bad assets, at what price will they sell them?" Kiss asked. "Is there a chance the taxpayer will do all right? Will we reward Wall Street at the expense of everyone else?"

Kiss has corporate finance experience and worked for the Resolution Trust Corp., the temporary government agency formed to clean up the savings and loan mess in the late 1980s and early '90s.

"With the RTC, we tried to sell assets as rapidly as possible but also tried to preserve market value," she said. "That way we managed to save market value, and we managed to improve the quality of some assets."

Matt Erskine, executive director of the Greater Washington Initiative, an affiliate of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, said the bailout could benefit the Washington region.

"No one, not even the experts, can make a firm prediction about the effects of the federal bailout plan, but I think we can say that the Greater Washington region will continue to be attractive to domestic and international companies because of many factors, including, importantly, the region's highly educated workforce — which is the best in the country — connectivity to world markets, and access to policymakers," Erskine said in an e-mail.

"Clearly the federal bailout plan and likely government action ahead will mean more regulations across the board, making access to policymakers even more important to domestic and global companies," Erskine said. "In addition, as the financial service company models change, the Greater Washington region will become even more important. For example, the movement of investment banks to more of the bank holding company model. This area is and should remain one of the best markets for non-investment bank financial services."

Erskine's group "takes a long-term view of business and economic development in the region — industries like life sciences and biotechnology are growth industries of the future," he said. "In addition to many other areas of strength, Maryland is a leading center for bio in the nation, and is therefore positioned to take full advantage of the recovery when it occurs."

Others say that without a bailout, the stakes are high.

"What concerns me is the fact that if there's no buyout, our local companies who need to borrow to invest in their future are going to find it more difficult to find funding," said James A. Dula, CEO and president of the Prince George's Chamber of Commerce. "This is a difficult, volatile state where America's future and the business community are at risk."

Dula said the government also needs to explore ways to ensure some of the bailout money goes to the citizens and businesses involved in the investment process. He emphasized that most people either get investment money through insurance funds, pensions, mortgage lenders or investment firms.

Acknowledging the downsides, Dula said the residual effect of not helping the investment firms is much greater.

Jack Haese, CFO for homebuilder Michael T. Rose in Laurel, urged that the thing to do is to get money into programs people can trust, such as refined and improved Federal Housing Administration, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac institutions, rather than Wall Street itself.

"I think our value would stabilize then," he said, adding that it's ridiculous to help the investment firms that caused their own problems through "excess and greed."

"We should let the fat cats sit in their own mess," Haese said.

He said the housing industry has come to a dead stop because people lack the confidence and credit to trade up their houses, especially because they can't sell their current ones. Prince George's County has the highest rate of foreclosures in the state.

"This is a top priority," he said.

Richard Griffin, director of the city of Frederick's Department of Economic Development, said he is taking a wait-and-see approach on the plan's specifics.

"I have great faith in the American financial system that it's a very resilient system," Griffin said. "We're all waiting to see what details come out [of the bailout proposal], but I have great faith they're going to come up with the very best solution."

M.H. Jim Estepp, president and CEO of the Prince George's County Business Roundtable, said he supports a bipartisan agreement on the bailout, saying both parties will need to be assured of the plan's success before moving forward.

"As businessmen, normally we want market dynamics to prevail … People see this as picking up the tab for people's bad decisions," Estepp said. "The world of finance is so complicated now, there's no panacea, no easy answer. It's all a lot of gambling."

Estepp said the business community needs to have stability and have some idea of where the market is headed before people can make the proper decisions about growth. He said whatever is done, there needs to be more oversight so people can know that the money they invest will result in a fair return in the market.

"Nobody's been minding the store. There's a lot of blame to go around," he said. "No other culture in the world would reward people for making colossal errors."

"I'm not happy about a bailout for an industry that's been irresponsible," said Andy Fraser, principal of Sandglass, aweb development company in Kensington.

For business owners, Fraser says, "What's scaring me is credit tightening up. For the Hispanic retail owners who have small operations, they need credit extended to them, or a line of credit, or they can't stay in business. We have to make sure credit is out there for people."

Erskine, looking forward, said, "It should be said as well that the Greater Washington region is insulated from radical economic swings, but not immune. Greater Washington weathers economic storms better than any other region in the country.

"During the last recession (2001-03), Greater Washington added 66,000 new jobs, whereas eight or nine other largest job markets lost jobs," he said.

Staff Writer Rebecca McClay contributed to this report.