Corporate Welfare

This is a good post on HuffPo about the Bear Sterns bailout:

" So, what are the answers? First, if the government is going to bail you out, then the government should be regulating you to make sure you're not going to need a bailout. I'm not a fan of over-regulation (but we're nowhere near that), but no regulation at all is just as dumb, if not dumber.

Second, shut the fuck up about bootstraps. If you're going to keep bailing out the largest companies in the world, you better be prepared to do the same for the average American when they run in to some trouble. Laissez-faire my ass. This is rank hypocrisy.

Third, you need balance, whether it's a hand up for the common guy or a regulation for big business. Too much of anything provides the wrong incentives, but too little leaves people hanging in the wind. We need some welfare and some regulation. Not too much, not too little.

Finally, when someone tells you about their ideology of free markets unfettered by any government intervention, they better not come crying home to mama when they need help from that same government they've been bashing for the last sixty years."