Okay, so this is a brief diary, but I want the idea out there in the KOS ether so those much wiser than I can weigh in on the effacy of a simple idea:
No company should be permitted to get so large or vital that it cannot be permitted to fail.
Jump on over.
We are being told that the rescues on Wall Street are required because the companies are simply too big to fail -- that we'll all be crushed by their toppling. We are told we have no choice but to rescue them with the largest doling of the public's money in the history of mankind. And now we are going to rescue automotive manufacturers, God knows who is next in line with hat in hand and gun to our heads.
If this is the case, to prevent such things from happening again, is it workable and reasonable to prevent by force of some federal law any business from becoming so large or so vital that we cannot absord its failure? Don't tell me that would be an unfair restriction on capitalism, because it ain't capitalism if we gotta open our wallets to rescue their bloated asses.
We used to break companies for other less publicly onerous reasons (to prevent monopolies like Ma Bell), right? Well then why the hell can't we break up companies to protect the freakin' solvency of the Country? I mean, how can we safeguard ourselves from this?
I sure would appreciate the opinions of others on this.