This post might come off rude...

Excruciator69 wrote:

Arlandria606 wrote:
Corporate greed is actually a good thing, the same way investment bankers being greedy is a good thing. Greedy people are necessary in society.

It always surprises me how the people complaining about corporate / banking greed are the same ones complaining that they're not getting enough growth in their pension plans and how they're not paid enough for their hard work. It's as if they have zero understanding of basic economics.

Oh, wait.

Until they create a financial mechanism to gamble on and blow it and everyone else has to bail them out. That is no longer capitalism when the failures are not allowed to "die" as they deserve.

A valid point (and an excellent example of why alternatives to capitalism don't work!) but what's important to remember is that the government (in this country at least) were putting immense pressure on the banks to act as they did. Although bailing them out was of detriment to the individuals in the country, the government really didn't have a choice after making the demands they did. I don't think the banks can be blamed for that: they acted under duress, and who wouldn't accept a bailout if one were offered, especially when your job has trained you to grasp all available money with both hands? The real issue was the government meddling in things they didn't understand in the first place. But remember, this is the same government who decided to announce to the world that they wanted to sell a large quantity of gold reserves, immediately lowering its value. So I suppose a basic grasp of economics was far too much to expect from that particular chancellor of the exchequer.