It’s been fascinating, at times dismaying, watching what’s happening in in the financial markets since Summer 2007. The subprime lending meltdown which has spurred the Feds to lower the interest rates several times, and possibly once more again tomorrow making two rate changes in the last week alone.

Meanwhile, there’s a government sponsored stimulus package in the works that passed 385-35 in the House today and is on it’s way to the Senate.

Under the House plan, most workers would receive $600 from the government, $1,200 for couples, plus $300 per child. Eligibility for the full check would be capped at $75,000 in adjusted gross income for individuals, $150,000 for couples. Workers with at least $3,000 in earned income last year but too little earnings to pay income taxes would receive $300, along with $300 per child.

These checks could be in the mail as soon as May this year. Of the 35 no votes, 10 were Democrats and 25 Republicans.

Speaking of the subprime mess, it got messier today as the FBI announced it is investigating 14 companies for accounting fraud relating to subprime loans:

[Neil Power, chief of the FBI’s Economic Crimes Unit] indicated that some people knew about the subprime crisis well ahead of time.

Ouch.