Because they’ve just pulled off the biggest theft in history, in broad daylight, that’s why. It must feel great giving away other people’s money to people who went and blew all the money they’d been given to look after previously. I seem to remember a story as a kid about the ant and the cricket, you know, how the ant scrimped and saved while the cricket lived for the day? Well, the crickets won this round, because the ants are going to pay.

Don’t think I don’t support some kind of bailout – it has to happen, absolutely. Most of the money in our economy doesn’t come from the mint. New money is mostly created as debt. Every time someone sits down and signs for a loan, a few keystrokes later, that money has been created. But if banks won’t even lend to each other, no one wants to be on the hook to create new debt if they can’t count on anyone to cover it. And in our society, no credit means no nothing. If you had to pay cash, starting tomorrow, for everything, could you do it? Me neither. Add to that the idea that your cash could become worth less each day, too, and see how that feels. So we take the hit now because the pain will be a lot worse if we don’t.

I think the main thing that really kills most of us about this whole mess is the fact that in the end, very few individuals will be held accountable. I expect the FBI and whoever else can investigate all they want, and the fact is most of the people who created the mess weren’t breaking the law. It’s just that things got deregulated to a point where they could get away with this kind of precarious banking and investing. And they got big bonuses when it worked out and a taxpayer-funded bailout when it didn’t. No consequences, really. You broke your bike? Sugar daddy here will just have to buy you a new one, because heaven forbid you should have to walk around like the rest of us.