(V): the US is not like a big company. And no, it shouldn't be bailed out. California is a good example of this. They are a government. They operated against sound economic principles. They are a very liberal State and they simply gave too much money away. YOu can't offer free this and free that to people that don't contribute and then scratch your head when the money runs out. No bailouts for California. They dug their own hole even while they were being warned. They ignored the warnings. You touch the hot stove, you get burnt. Deal with it.

As for the auto industry: if they fail, they fail. More people have lost their jobs in small businesses than could ever lose their jobs in the auto industry. Big business doesn't make the US. It's the small ones that do. The big ones suck up to the government. When "Ma Bell" was dismantled, competitive businesses sprung up everywhere. Sure, thousands lost their jobs when the telephone company split. Many more thousands found jobs as a result of newly developing businesses.

On Banks: if they are insured, you get your money back. If not, oh well. It's not the job of the government to bail out people who make bad investments.

As to Bernie Madoff: The government was warned over and over about that man and the government ignored it. Seriously, he should be hung in the city square for all to see, along with any others who were participants in the theft.

But bailouts? No. Who is going to give me the thousands I've lost when the market lost money? No one. That's the way the ball bounces.