Here’s why I’m still suspicious of any bail out deal. It’s not about the consumer/taxpayer.
We just foot the bill. The beneficiaries are the capitalists, many of whom look on the bailout as a “sweetener” for the deals they want to make as soon as the bailout gets done.
For example, while Congressional leaders were working this weekend, the heads of major banks like Citibank were working to figure out which bank to target in a takeover.
Good capitalists are already trying to figure out which banks to gobble up. They’re just waiting for the Fed to create a rosier scenario for fire sale profits. If the Fed had just held back and left the capitalists to their greedy ways, out of self-interest the free-market dealers would have had to step up with their own “bailout.” No public funds needed, though no doubt, any institutions gobbling up smaller banks like the second coming of Pac-Man, would find a way to pass on costs to consumers.
But since the feds are offering up our public money to help, the corporate folks can relax. The feds are essentially assuring good deals will be out there at great prices, eliminating concerns about any ongoing risk. And what do consumer/taxpayers get in return? Not as much as the capitalists who will rush in and buy up the weaklings and make out like bandits.
I hope the “small government” conservatives remember this when they speak to their GOP constituents. The money for my schools, my roads, my health system is being used instead to subsidize corporate greed. Doesn’t sound much like the “public good” to me.