The IMF warned this weekend that a second bailout would "threaten democracy":
Dominique Strauss-Kahn told the CBI annual conference of business leaders that another huge call on public finances by the financial services sector would not be tolerated by the “man in the street” and could even threaten democracy.
"Most advanced economies will not accept any more [bailouts]...The political reaction will be very strong, putting some democracies at risk," he told delegates.
I hope you're prepared for that, because our government has intentionally lied its way through this mess so far. We have refused to force those who are holding paper at well above its actual value to recognize their losses (and indeed have made such a policy via accounting changes!), we have allowed The Fed to monetize $1.5 trillion dollars in bad paper (into which The Treasury immediately issued more debt in order to fund giveaways of various sorts, thereby instantly destroying any beneficial aspect that this program would have otherwise had), and we still have literal hundreds of trillions of "off exchange" derivatives with no accurate accounting of where the net exposure resides or in what amount it exists.
