The economy and financial markets are a mess, and I realize that words and marketing can’t change those “fundamentals.”
But the word “bailout” has no upside, does it?
Hearing “bailout” over and over and over again is bound to make us feel so bad or mad that we want to publicly hang a CEO upside down (like that magician, David Blaine) until all his millions fall out of his pockets.
It seems to me that one of those shrewd political types would come up with some other term to put a less negative spin on this latest calamity.
Maybe — oh, I don’t know — “financial markets recovery act”?
Neil Sagebiel 
Neil,
I had nearly the same reaction to the word “bailout.” But, I typically associate it with a trip to the county jail at 3:00 AM to bail out a younger brother who’s been given a DUI [not autobiographical].
I don’t pretend to know Jack about the economy. But the word “bailout” makes me think we’re using our own hard-earned money to help keep some criminal out of jail.
Now, it’s hard for me to shake the feeling that one night real soon we’re going to back at the county jail fishing out our wallets.
Chris
Good analogy, Chris. I think that characterizes the situation quite well. I hope we don’t have to fish out our wallets again.