Readers rant on financial crisis
Readers sound off on financial turmoil
Here are a few reader e-mails touching on Treasury bailouts and the Fed.
“How is it that only one, two, three or four megabusinesses (consolidations, etc.) are allowed to take place that, if only one to four fail, the results can affect the entire U.S. economy? This seems extremely ridiculous and dangerous. Example: Now the airlines are consolidating even more (Northwest-Delta talks of consolidating). If we reach a point where there are only one to three airlines, isn’t there a danger that a union strike, management decisions or strategy issues could conceivably pretty much paralyze our entire travel industry in the U.S., etc. These circumstances are disturbing to me and I would think others would be similarly concerned. But I haven’t seen anything in the media that raises concern about the potential (and real) risks that lie with putting all of our eggs in one basket by allowing megabusinesses to develop rather than spreading risks among many smaller private businesses who, if some of them failed, would not have the same devastating “crisis mode” we are currently facing with the financial institutions, banks, insurance firms, brokerages, etc. How can the federal government continue to rescue private businesses that exercise poor judgement, unwisely delve into high-risk practices, get burned, and yet do not need to bear the consequences — which are left to taxpayers and others who use more prudent judgement. The quick answer by others is that “if these firms are allowed to fail, the results would be even more devastating to the economy” just doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense, because they set a precedent for other firms that could carelessly get themselves into similar predicaments with relative impunity. The world is not only “flat,” it is getting turned upside down.”
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