I've Got 15 Bucks for Your Bear Stearns

I'm not an economist. In part this is because I preferred history and geography as a boy. And in part it's because I'm not nearly smart enough to understand how unprecedented wealth leads naturally to rising inequality.

But someone (I forget who) made a comment a few days ago that stuck with me. Big business, and the rich people in office who represent them, have a tendency to demonize government when the economy is good. This is when we here paeans to free markets, deregulation, and the genius of individual avarice. It's also when we hear that taxes will destroy wealth, that spending on healthcare and education will set dangerous precedents for meddling, and that standards of ethics and corporate governance will stifle innovation.

However, when the economy turns bad, the tune changes. Suddenly the government has a core responsibility to stabilize the market. That phrase - "stabilize the financial markets" - must have been repeated thirty times today on NPR during my ride home. And no cost is too great. The same government too incompetent to manage a pre-kindergarten program is suddenly required to arrange a multi-billion dollar buyout for a flailing bank. After all, if it didn't fulfill this basic duty, the markets would "remain jittery."

The funny thing is, I don't really resent corporate welfare. I basically agree with the premise that we should throw these guys a safety net, and in so doing help a lot of regular people caught up in the mess. But the hopelessly ignorant non-economist in me wants to see something in return. Like full benefits for veterans. Like health and education for working poor people. Like transparency and accountability in corporate business dealings. And most of all, more than anything else in all the world, I want those cheap crooks to pay their taxes.

That ought to be the price of a bail out.