One: Take the post in context... I was talking about drastic changes. Anything would be better than what happened with TARP... I think that its already proven a failure only a couple month later... And I'm not saying it was a failure because the economy hasn't turned around, but because there is NO accountability for the money that was provided to these banks, insurance companies, and now car companies.
Two: For this example, there would have been the corporate infrastructure in place (for example, Lehman Brothers with fired executives), using very competent people who would have been happy to have a job, as well as a ton of money that would have gone to helping those who need it most. The only guidance would be to have the bank start acting like a bank, not one giant profit-making scam that may or may not work.
Three: Last I checked, Fannie and Freddie were gov't-sponsored, not gov't-owned. They only became gov't-owned after the crisis started. As a gov't sponsored entity, I have no idea how much these companies were required to, or actually did, report to the gov't.
Forth: Do you have any concept who much $ 700 Billion represents for companies that screwed the system up in the first place? IMO, they should have been allowed to die out. With all these bailouts, our grand kids will be paying for it. Furthermore, it take just one country (China, for example) to loose faith in the $$$ for this country to go down the toilet. And don't defend the $$$ by saying that oil is traded in $$$, it wouldn't be that hard to trade oil in Euros... Bottom line: They don't need to match us militarily. With all the $$$ that they hold, they can destroy us economically. All they are waiting for is a new customer base, and that will likely be home grown. Doomsday enough for you?
I'd love to debate semantics with you (socialist, corporatism, fascism, whatever...), but that wasn't the point of this thread. Either way, I don't think that there is anything that you'd say that would make me think that the bailout (any of them) was a worthwhile endeavor. How many are we up to anyway, 4... 5...?