The 5 Most Regrettable Bailouts

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Promises were made that could not be kept. That's what money is: a promise to do work.
All of this financial jargon is just rearrangement of what is ultimately a debt in work to be paid. The government spreads out that debt to everyone by offering to take on these big company problems by promising in the form of bailouts. The government has its own promises to account for through the national debt, so this is not a good time to be promising more.
The beauty of a capitalistic society is that people move about rather freely. Turnover is generally expected in companies. Why is job loss so tragic? People should have savings, people can find other jobs even if it's not in their degree or field of expertise. You lost your dream job? Tough. Some child in a third-world country will never even live to the age you are now. Be grateful for what you have.
Bailouts are the evolutionary equivalent of medicine, except that I (not an economist) fail to see how this is truly healthy for the world. I guess it does prevent having to rebuild companies over and over again, but at what price? We have to start being honest with ourselves that an endlessly rising debt can logically never be paid.
Always keep in mind that, regardless of how many dollars we print, our nation can only do so much physical work.

David of ND 7:43PM November 04, 2009

What the hell did Washington think was going to happen and, what I knew would happen, DID! Now,we as taxpayers, are on the hook. And, as has been said, banks need to revert back to being banks, not players in the international stock market scheme. Until this happens, and it's already happening, banks will go right back to their old ways. So what was the point of all this. In the long run, we would have been better just letting them all go down. The pain would have been severe but, it would have been over. Now, it will take years for all this nonsense to wash out and be done. It just goes to show you what happens when you get politicians into business, where they have neither the expertise nor experience and just exacerbate an already aggravated situation.

Mad Dog of NY 6:32PM October 25, 2009

Maybe they should down-size to a smaller home, and cut their spending in other ways.

Zella Wheaton of OH 7:18AM October 24, 2009

And then if we start seeing 'bankruptcy' being our only solution, RUN to the Feds! They won't let us down! They'll save us, just like they did AIG and everyone else!
" "All I _know_ is I can't afford to 'take home' even a dime less than I do! My Ferrari is 3/4 paid for; then I'm getting a new one! And you should see my wife's credit card bills! Then my house payment is close to $8k a mo. OMG!" "

Wayne Z. of CA 3:24AM October 04, 2009

we saw, in our little area of sarasota fla, local bank after bank being opened over the last 4 years. some of them,not all, wanted to be big bank players and lent large amounts of capital to borderline wannabee developers as this market was hotter than hot.
now these banks are going down by the dozen.no federal bailouts for them. we have over 8500 banks...like pharmacies and 7 eleven they are on multiple corners. the fdic closes them up and give the assets to the big banks and the stockholders of the small banks are done. i guess that is survival of the fittest. thinning the herd. in the end we will end up with less banks but stronger ones.
i hope the regulators have learned their lesson and make banks be banks like they used to be not wall street players. what i wonder is that everyone knows the fraud that was involved in these liar loan deals. yet how many complicit appraisers or mortgage loan officers have been prosecuted? perhaps over time we will return to the 60's era when banks were banks and brokers were just that. but now the big banks are all brokers too. so what will really change in the end?

gary shapiro of FL 8:28PM September 25, 2009

I have heard of the Goldman/Paulson theories and connections/conjectures before...but ultimately who will come forward and start prosecuting the criminals that are running Wall Street and thus the country...every company that received bailout funds and continued to pay out any bonuses, let alone the excessive ones we've all heard about should prosecuted. I remember Anderson Cooper doing an expose of all the interconnected architects, the companies and individuals, the real "bad guys" who actions directly or indirectly caused the economic meltdown; isn't someone in government interested in punishing them. Until there is some real deterrent in place with the SEC or Justice Dept.? These criminals have caused much pain to most of middle class of this country...and now they get to take early retirement and sit on big plies of dough. I've now read this most of this series of interconnected articles by Rick Newman and while I find them intelligent and perceptive, I think that until the values of common sense, personal integrity, and corporate morality with uncompromising ethics can be achieved throughout the nation, and especially by those whom we have intrusted to make our laws and enforce them...we are doomed as a nation.

BS of NM 12:26AM September 15, 2009

I know is sounds silly but the big banks have all our money. Unfortunately 401k's are stuck with the big banks but our working cash isn't. Put you money in a credit union or a local savings and loan and let all the little BOA, CHAse and you name the rest small branches parish.

arthu Hesse of NJ 11:25AM September 11, 2009

Bo, I agree with you. The banks are using our savings for almost nothing in return. I have considered taking all of my low paying paying short term CDs and cashing them in and putting the cash in my lock box. If all of us with money would do that the banks would change their tune in a hurry.

Gene Schorzmann of SD 7:29AM September 11, 2009

Paying bonuses to anyone in a firm that receives a federal bailout is just plain wrong!! No consequence for their actions!! UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Steve of MI 2:28AM September 11, 2009

The government and the people who represent us know that we are
really just stupid and will tell us anything and wait alittle bit and screw us anyway. Why do we put up with this ?
Maybe we are dumb.

john mellon of FL 11:26AM September 10, 2009