I'd like to see President Obama be the 21st-Century Trust-Buster

[Syrinx]

First, let me say that I'm in favor of the "Big 3" bailout, as long as it is in the form of a loan, not a grant. It is imperative for our economy that we salvage a manufacturing base. And I hope that soon-to-be President Obama adopts policies that will get America manufacturing even more durable goods soon. A "first-world" economy simply cannot be sustained with shady accounting tricks, and three-card monte banking practices, like we've seen in the past twenty years, or more. (And, yes, I'm including President Clinton in my criticism.) It's a house of cards, that appears to be on the verge on collapse. Secondly, I'm very skeptical of the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. The administration says they haven't even kept track of where all that money (a whole lot of money) is going. I strongly suspect, but obviously can't prove, that a healthy portion of that dough is going into the Bush family's offshore accounts. (Please, please look into that President Obama.)

Sorry, got off on a tangent there.

I was impressed with something Senator Bernie Sanders said not long ago. He was talking about bailing out Wall Street firms, because "they are too big to fail." Meaning our national economy could be crippled by the failure of just one or two corporations.

And I think if it’s too big to fail, it probably is too big to exist.

I couldn't agree more. The economy of a country as big and ostensibly prosperous as the United States shouldn't be held hostage by one company, or by one handful of companies. That's insanity.

Yet, we've learned that the Wall Street giants are using their portion of the bailout billions not to "un-freeze" lending, but rather to buy up their competitors. That, for the American taxpayer, is throwing good money after bad.

I'm not a particular cheerleader for capitalism. It does seem to be the best system there is, however, if it is properly regulated. It has gotten totally out of control in the United States though.

We cannot allow corporations to get so big that the failure of one company, or two, will sink our entire economy.

I say we bail out General Motors, on the condition that they are split into several different companies. Buick, Inc. Cadillac, Inc. Chevrolet, Inc. Saturn, Inc. Etc.

Same for Ford, and Chrysler.

And while I'm raving and ranting, why did the federal government spend years and millions of dollars to bust up AT&T, only to allow twenty-two years later, AT&T to re-swallow BellSouth?

:crazy:

Bust the trusts! And down with corporate person-hood!

We've been brought to this verge of a new Great Depression by Republicans, and New Democrats, that have sold out the future of this country for short-term personal gain and glory. They don't care about the country. They only care about themselves. They just thought that the chickens would come home to roost after they were safely dead. Guess what. The piper wants to be paid much sooner than they ever expected.

:(