What we need to remember is that if a company goes bankrupt, we the people end up paying for their pensions as they are insured by the federal gov't.  They lose their health care.  If we provide a bridge loan with strict oversight, they can keep both their pensions and their benefits and the tax payers would be paying less than if we had to cover the cost of all the pensions.  This is a mess beyond belief... FUBAR definitely.  My Mom was telling me that she hasn't seen times as bad as these since she was a child in the early 40's.  It's going to take sacrifice on the part of all of us to pull ourselves and each other up and out of this hole.  A rising tide will raise all boats.  What we may have today won't go far tomorrow if too many folks fail.  We are codependent as a community, as a economic engine.  The more folks who lose theirjobs, their homes, their savings, their healthcare, the more we will have to pay and utlitmately lose our jobs, homes, savings and healthcare because we won't have the customers spending money on our services.  No one is going to get out of this one unscratched.