This "government intervention" is just the administration's final emptying of the US Treasury.(in case they lose power- not likely) Besides the Military Industrial Complex getting a lionshare with the IRAQ/Afghanistan situation, the Haliburton NO-BID contracts, hiring "Private Contractors", etc. Comparitively; The S&L crisis was a kid stealing a candy bar, the current theft is the Hope Diamond! Did Congress allow these 'buyouts'? Why AIG and not LEH? And what about the Automakers? I like Toyotas and quality built cars- rather than the crap out of Detroit. You see, America has the skill, the manpower and the abiility to make the BEST cars in the world, but we don't. Why? Because of GREED. You see, GM and Ford wanted to make more $ for shareholders, and the executives (so they could pay their country club dues) Quality went in the shitter, now they can't sell their crappy cars here. Seems to me, that if you get greedy and try to sell SHIT instead of Quality- you should go out of business! If an insurance company or a brokerage makes a bad trade, or a bad deal, or isn't doing their DUE DILIGENCE-- and loses their $$, they should go out of business just the same- You see, greed has driven everything up, way too much. Prices NEED to fall, to get back to a "BALANCE" --- this is what FREE MARKET forces usually accomplish. The bad go out of bizness, the good survive. Look at the HOUSING market- and wages, Did wages go up at the pace of the cost of housing? HELL NO! What a FREE MARKET does, is bring DOWN housing costs, to where then- housing IS affordable. This, like the DOTCOM, was a BUBBLE! Bubbles CANNOT last, and NO GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION will be able to PREVENT things from coming back into BALANCE. IMHO, the "stock market" has been, (with the exception of companies that provide GOOD PRODUCTS, and make $ for shareholders) (and pay a "living wage" to their faithful employees) and will be - a "PONZI SCHEME" (sorry, but the truth hurts, eh?) Something for nothing, make a quick buck- remember the NYC Taxi driver that was giving out financial advice? That lttle group of Beardstown ladies? back at the dotcom top? Buyer beware. When I make a bad trade, I can't cry about it and ask to be re-imbursed, well, unless I know Paulson, anybody got his number? I got some losses on some BAD TRADES that I'd like the taxpayers to cover- how about it? What about "Profitization"- OOPS I meant "Privatization"?? I thought that Government entities would be better run by the private sector (read: suck more $ for the executives- (robberbarons) Everybody's buddy has been on everybody's corporate board, giving eachother multimiliion dollar pay and bonuses. But now, the taxpayer is left "holding the bag". Once the taxpayer bails the failures out, then the Government can "Profitize" (oops again) Hey, I'D RUN FREDDIE or FANNIE for TWENTY FUCKING MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR! just my two cents. Oh, one more thing, Could I use the 15 Million dollar Ski Cabin that I know one of these company's CEO's must own- now that the taxpayers own them? Book me for November 15-22nd please!