This is just so ridiculous. The

Treasury Department

is still looking for asset managers to execute the

$700 billion bailout

approved by

Congress

on Oct. 3.

So much for the program being up and running within a few weeks.

Seriously, how hard can it be to find asset managers? One of the sticking points, according to

The Wall Street Journal

, is figuring out how much to pay the financial firms to manage the bailout.

Say what? After all the money the government is throwing at banks and insurers, they should be offering their services for free.

There's no one at

JPMorgan Chase

(JPM) - Get Report

who owes the U.S. a favor after the Bear Stearns rescue? What about

AIG

(AIG) - Get Report

-- come on, the Feds control that operation these days.

And the Treasury now owns stakes in dozens of banks, including

Goldman Sachs

(GS) - Get Report

,

Citigroup

(C) - Get Report

and

Morgan Stanley

(MS) - Get Report

. No money managers there?

Maybe it's smart to go outside the inner circle to avoid a conflict of interest. A leading contender is reported to be

Allianz's

(AZ)

Pimco.

Let's not kid ourselves into thinking Bill Gross & Co. don't have a vested interest in all this. Pimco's got big positions in a lot of debt that's been devalued by the

financial crisis

. So why shouldn't Gross do this for free?

For the sake of the nation, let's stop with the delays, dispense with what's left of the "rules" and get this bailout going.