Since bonds without government guarantees would likely have been less attractive to outside investors, the Cardinals group circumvented the public bond markets altogether by buying the bonds themselves.

WSJ: Deal of the Week: St. Louis Cardinals Build a Village

For a firm that probably would have collapsed without government capital, debt guarantees and fast-track approval to turn itself into a commercial bank (not to mention a multi-billion-dollar payout as a counterparty of American International Group), such largesse is cheeky at best, distasteful at worst.

ECONOMIST: American finance

If, as Senator Bill Bradley and others have suggested, Western government credits and loan guarantees are taxpayer subsidies which should be ended multilaterally, then the United States should not send the opposite signal to our allies by restoring such U.S. credit subsidies.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy