DON'T PANIC: HERE COMES BAILOUT BILL

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Not until last Monday, the day Clinton had set as the deadline for congressional approval, did the White House acknowledge that it would have to go it alone. ``The Administration relied on [House Speaker] Newt Gingrich's saying he was for it,'' says a Democratic congressional leader, ``and they relied on him for everything after that.'' But when neither Gingrich nor anyone else could deliver, Clinton, Rubin and Panetta huddled in Panetta's White House office at 11:30 p.m. to complete work on the executive action. Clinton arrived from a dinner of the National Governors Association still dressed in a tuxedo and promptly helped himself to the Domino's pepperoni-and-mushroom pizza that Panetta and Rubin had ordered. Meanwhile, Treasury Under Secretary Summers was dispatched to contact IMF officials to win their support for the new package, a task he completed at 5 a.m.

In the end, the package got a bittersweet reception in Mexico. While Mexicans were thankful for the money, many expressed embarrassment at their country's continuing reliance on Washington. Particularly galling was the fact that Mexico pledged revenues from its oil wells, the country's proudest asset, as collateral for the loans. At a news conference last Tuesday, suspicious reporters badgered Finance Minister Guillermo Ortiz with questions about whether Mexico had made any other promises (he said no).

But the sense of discomfort stuck. ``I feel somehow as if we've sold out,'' said restaurant cook Guillermo Dehesa. So did the 74% of Mexico City residents who recently told a newspaper poll that they opposed accepting American aid. Nor did many Mexicans seem to want foreign investors back. ``Flight capital has turned into vampire capital that has severely bled our economy,'' said a statement from Mexico's manufacturing chamber of commerce. ``We must banish it and never depend on it again.'' Whatever impact the bailout finally has on Mexico, the era of fevered investment in emerging markets has cooled.

--Reported by James Carney and Suneel Ratan/Washington, Laura Lopez/Mexico City and Joseph R. Szczesny/Detroit

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"This was about mutual funds and pension funds, and that means average Americans."

"Flight capital has turned into vampire capital that has bled our economy"