Bank bailouts, automobile and insurance company bailouts, and homeowner bailouts have rewarded ratherthan sanctioned the reckless behavior that contributed to the real estate bubble.
What's going on here is that we're in uncharted territory, a world where the Fed and the Treasury are making up the rules as they go along, where accountability is being ignored and a world where the government bails out Bear Stearns and its creditors ratherthan letting those who have been reckless learn a lesson for the next time.
Others contended that this was hardly a preordained outcome and that cutting a program so vital to U.S. security strictly on financial grounds ratherthan with due regard to the relevant strategic considerations was irresponsible and possibly reckless.
During the past decade, Citi has become synonymous with financial misjudgment, reckless lending, and gargantuan losses: what might be termed asset denuding ratherthan asset building.