Stop the Bailouts, please

As you may have heard—unless you’ve been in a cave for the last month—as a U.S. citizen, I am now the proud (one-three hundred millionth) owner of:

• millions of private homes, including lots of foreclosed properties (via the Fannie/Freddie takeovers)
• the world’s largest insurance company, with over a trillion dollars in assets (allegedly)

I hate that my government is getting involved here.  We allowed these companies to purchase financial derivatives and make billions in profits from these financial instruments.  When things go sour, I get stuck footing the bill.

I think Lewis Black said it best.  If you can’t describe in one sentence what your company does, it’s illegal.  No one can describe financial derivatives in one minute, much less one sentence.

On the upside, I’m excited to see how fast Uncle Sam can run these companies into the ground.  They are starting at the bottom, and somehow will manage to continue screwing up.