[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('johhnytrash', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pretorian', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('johhnytrash', '
')Why do people vote republican again?

[Hermes]

There seem to be about 20 different threads on the financial collapse going on, so I'm not quite sure where to post this... this thread may be as good as any.

A few things I don't get about what's going on here.
1: What I don't quite understand from most peoples' reactions, both on PO.com and other sites I've perused, is the degree of outrage about this. Wasn't it obvious that the US government consistently favors corporations over individuals? And is a machine whose main purpose is to funnel money and power away from the poor into the hands of the rich? The U.S. could be defined as a fascist state going pretty far back now.

2: Put another way: It seems to me that corporations' costs have constantly been externalized, and generally off onto individuals. Is this any different (the companies want to make someone else pay for their mistakes, and the "bailout plan" is just that)? Or is the issue really the scale, transparency and bravado of it that's gotten people all riled up? Are the protestations I'm hearing from the last hold-outs who didn't yet believe that the U.S. wasn't all it was cracked up to be?

3: On the other hand I do believe it's right that the system would have collapsed imminently without this, but the system MUST collapse. I see it like this:

United States, early 1800's:
The plantation owner comes to his slaves and tells them that the plantation is going to go under, due to some financial unluck. He asks the slaves if they like the food he provides for them? "Yes, Massa". And the shack he provided for them? "Yes, Massa!". And the rags he provides them with so they can make clothes? "Oh yes, Massa!". He then says that he's got to do something drastic to be able to continue to provide them a "good life". He then ups their amount of work by 10%, explaining that if they don't work harder they won't have any of the good things they've learned to enjoy. "Oh thank you, Massa!".

It seems to me that essentially that's what's happening here. The global financial system (the plantation) will indeed collapse without this "bail out". And the slaves WANT to stay on the plantation: they think all their needs are fulfilled by the plantation that they pick cotton for.

Sure once the slaves are freed things are going to be hard for them for a few years, but that's another story.

[johhnytrash]

They've been using the excuse 'it's too big to fail' for bailing out these corporations.

If it's too big to fail, it's too big to exist.

[Gerben]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('johhnytrash', 'I')f it's too big to fail, it's too big to exist.