Bailouts

Bailouts as Handouts
Michael Hudson proposes that the financial sector can be understood as a parasite on the productive economy. Not only do parasites extract vital resources, they generally numb the host to prevent resistance. The processes of Media Consolidation and monetization has facilitated this by ending of mass media free of plutocratic influence. Bailouts, he says, can be understood as simple theft from taxpayers by the plutocrats who control both the government and financial institutions.

Numerous commentators have denounced bailouts as "socia lism for the rich, ruthless free market capitalism for the poor". The contrast is especially acute after so much rhetoric about the importance of a light regulatory touch and pseudo-religious dogmas of market forces.

Bailouts as Capitalism's Endgame
Bailouts can also be understood as the endgame of the Marxian Crisis of Capital. Since nature's abundance has been plundered to such an extent, there dwindling opportunities left for traditional investments to yield a profit, so that the money supply starts to shrink as investors do not take out new loans, even at a low interest rate. The bailouts at the taxpayers expense effectively confiscate money from them to pay it to the large financial institutions. As such the media focus on bankers' bonuses can be understood as a distraction from the larger, systemic problem of the Marxian Crisis of Capital due to critical resource depletion.