While national leaders bicker over the fate of the U.S. financial market, area residents also expressed mixed views Monday about a proposed government bailout.

The House voted down a bill Monday that would have given a $700 billion lifeline to collapsing finance service companies, sending the stock market into a historic dive.

Kevin Bell of Bowling Green said he thinks the country is heading toward a recession if lawmakers cannot put politics aside and focus on saving the market.

“Maybe it’s a good thing for the government to come in and help out,” he said. “All they’ve got to do is print out the money.”

Still, locals are going to feel the sting either way, he said.

“Us little people are going to get hurt,” he said.

“I think the financial system, it affects us all,” said Lynn Robertson of Bowling Green. “It’s not a Wall Street bailout … we’re all in this together.”

Proponents of the bailout argue that the government needs to initiate a plan before the markets crash and local residents take the hit.

“If we don’t do anything, we’re looking at some financially hard times,” Robertson said. “They need to get going and get on with it, and do it … I’d hate to see this become a third world country.”

Others argue that finance giants got into this mess with ill-advised lending and investments, and it’s not fair to rescue those companies using taxpayer money.

“There surely has to be something better than a bailout,” said Randall Dennis, a Nashville resident who was visiting Bowling Green on Monday. “If they have managed the company so poorly, I can’t imagine the severance packages should be honored.”

Dennis said he is leery of lawmakers and analysts who are rushing the bill and saying markets are running out of time.

“It’s almost like they’re trying to close a sale on a car,” he said.

Brandon Miles of Bowling Green said he understands financial markets will suffer without the government’s help, but, at the same time, it isn’t fair to dole out taxpayer dollars.

“There’s not enough taxpayer money to cover this,” he said. “Give it to the people instead.”

Minutes after the House defeated the proposed bailout, the Dow Jones industrial average plunged, ending the day down 778 points, the largest drop since the Sept. 11 attacks. Earlier that day, a trickle effect was reported in several European markets, which began to drop while overseas bank lending froze. Several European banks were reportedly looking into buyouts Monday.

Bill and Jackie Clark of England visited Bowling Green on Monday as part of a vacation, and they said their country was experiencing similar worries.

“But there’s more of a safety net in England,” Bill Clark said.

And stateside banks need a safety net in the form of government aid, experts say.

He doesn’t agree with every detail of the plan, but the $700 billion bailout would put financial markets on a more promising road, said William Davis, chairman of the economics department at Western Kentucky University.

“It would be prudent,” he said. “If we let this ride, in my view, it’s too risky.”

Davis said it is unclear how taxpayers might be affected, but they weathered a similar bailout about 20 years ago and they can pull through another one.

Congress created the Resolution Trust Corp. in 1989 to deal with the savings and loans crisis in a similar manner to the proposed $700 billion bailout.

“We’re not entirely in new territory,” Davis said. “If we get through this period, it will tend to support the view that we have learned some things over the years.”