As the government's financial rescue enters a new phase, Wall Street and many ordinary Americans are wondering the same thing: Is any of this working?

The short answer is not nearly as muc, or as fast, as many had hoped.

More than a month and nearly $300 billion into the initial effort many of the nation's financial arteries seem nearly as sclerotic as they were before. Some of them, in fact, appear to be hardening more.

Loans are scarce, and for many people, getting scarcer. Home mortgage rates have barely eased. While solid corporations can borrow money again in the market for commercial paper — those crucial short-term i.o.lu.'s that companies rely on to pay day-to-day bills — trickier forms of financing remain elusive. Hard-pressed companies are still virtually shut out of the capital markets.