Good idea Guys,

Lets fight back. We'll forget that in comparison to large parts of the world we are rich beyond their wildest dreams. We'll forget that we are free to do or say pretty much what we please.

I personally find the idea of public bailouts of private companies repugnant, There is a certain truth to the suggestion that some of these companies have privatised their profits and socialised their debts. True economic liberlaism calls for those companies to be allowed to fail. And a lot of them do. However the consequences to ordinary people of allowing some of the very big companies to fail would be significant.

Fractelle,

Your suggestion that the bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie May is Totalitarianism is simply preposterous. This is not about governments and companies ruling together. It's about stopping ordinary people from losing their jobs and their homes. That seems like an entirely reasonable action for a gov't that is supposed to look after our interests. Those companies which can be let fail without causing massive damage to the economy will be let fail. Those which can't, won't.

It does seem as if there needs to be better regulation of the banking and financial systems. You suggest that the system has allowed the concentration of wealth in a few hands. Whilst you would need to ignore the fact that the vast majority of average Australians have shared in this wealth, it is equally true that a lot of once rich people have lost a lot of money recently. That is how the system is supposed to work.

Well the share market bounced back today,but how long can the American tax payer keep bailing out failed financial institutions?

Banks,insurance companies don't actually produce anything.Banks are the gate keepers of the medium of exchange which is now a commodity,to be used as a yolk to extract the maximum amount of profit for the least amount of effort.It was an orgy of profiteering at the expense of common decent,hard working citizens.

How the Bush administration can be re-elected after their willful neglect of their ordinary citizens is beyond me.Are the ordinary people of the US so ignorant that they cannot see what is in their long term interests?

The Anglo-Saxon economic model of debt-fuelled growth funded by borrowing against speculation driven asset values - effectively spending money today that anyone with half an ounce of common sense could see was unlikely to be earned tomorrow - was always bound to end in misery.

I notice that continental European countries have been very reluctant to adopt the Anglo-Saxon model of "spend madly today/worry about paying it off later", and, as a result, their economies are in much better shape to cope with the current downturn.

It's time for English-speaking Western countries to re-assess the sustainability of the whole high growth-high debt model.

Fractelle.. you need a good dose of SouthPark...the episode where they killed Wallmart :)

Fear is now our greatest enemy.Just this week I've learned that a potential customer of mine in Aust has been victim of Lehman Bros to the tune of over $2 million.I need the work,but do you trust them enough to get the final payment?

In the US they have the same problem magnified many times whereby there is almost no trust.How does your economy function effectively in such an environment?

The house of cards is a very fragile trust which all our survival depends upon.

I certainly don't blame globalisation, for we all benefit from
globalisation, every day.

Fact is that a mob of crooks were allowed to operate in Wall St,
with relative impunity. Somebody clearly made a lot of money
rerating all those subprime loans as AAA, I have yet to see
where those people are going to land up in jail.

The people who voted for Bush/Cheney are now paying a huge price,
as Bush takes America to the edge of the economic cliff.

So how do Americans respond? Many are singing the praises of
McCain/ Palin, a couple of economic illiterates.

Clearly Americans need yet more pain to learn!

Old Osama seems to have been not so far wrong, when he said that
his best method was to send America broke. The place is now
not far from that point. All very sad to sit and watch really.
"I told you so" might make me a smart arse but its all part of
America going down the plughole. Sad but true.