Free market phonies on the march again

I may not have any love for short sellers on Wall Street, but really, where was this interest in propping up bad stocks during the last recession or any other recession? Like many investors I was picked to pieces by short sellers in 2001 and surprise, surprise, no SEC, no Treasury Department, nobody stepped in to stop it. Now that our precious banks are getting their comeuppance everybody is stepping up to protect them. I'm getting tired of hearing the old "we can't let the banks fail" routine, especially from the free market phonies who could never stop talking about the benefits of the free market. Fine, let the free market work for banks just as it has done for other industries. Let bankers tell us about the virtues of limited unemployment benefits when it's bankers who are unemployed and losing their houses.

Step back and look at what's going on here and who is getting a helping hand versus a kick in the butt. Rewarding greedy bankers who have already made record profits (and record bonuses, which they still own) courtesy of selling worthless loans is no better than rewarding greedy individuals who were flipping houses though look at who is getting the VIP treatment. Political leadership in Washington can't move quickly enough to rescue those least in need. For home buyers who were bamboozled by Big Finance, good luck. The NY Times has a late, but still great article on the credit crisis. It's abundantly clear by recent actions (and inactions) that unless you're a bank, you're a chump.