Decius wrote:

The rescue operation brings to mind John Kenneth Galbraith's dictum that in the United States, the only respectable form of socialism is socialism for the rich.

For f**k's sake. I am having serious problems believing people could be so stupid as to bail out these banks, when very little other than hand wringing is being done about the homes of people these banks will soon (if they've not at this very moment already done so) foreclose on.

These banks are going to be neck-deep in real-estate for god's sake. Make 'em sell the stuff cheap to recoup their losses. In theory, that was their actual plan all along anyway.