When I read that Paulson was conferring with Goldman Saks (who had a 20B stake in AIG) prior to the bail out of AIG I blew my top. This whole thing is so "in bred" by a bunch of northeast elitists and the rest of the country pays the price. Very credible people have presented alternatives that don't cost anywhere near as much and do not involve the govt. taking so dramatic a role in determining who wins and loses, yet these ideas are ignored or just given lip service. It is very frustrating.
Because it is a big scam!
I think you're right. These big time investment bankers and traders want open and free markets until they get caught up in something that doesn't work out. Then they want the govt. to bail them out.
Also, in every sector of the economy that you see problems with pricing, services and the need for govt. help you find the govt. has politicized that product or service. Off the top I can think of health care, college costs, auto industry, and now the financial markets. In the last case, the govt. pushed sub prime lending so "everyone can own a home" and now middle America pays the price.
I think McCain has probably lost the election because of this. He could have really separated himself from the DC crowd and shown he wants to represent middle America, but he didn't. We all want change. We want someone to go in there and clean up this cess pool and McCain has shown he won't.