CIT, acash-strappedAmericancommerciallender, fuelled speculation that itmay have to go into bankruptcy when it said that it was unlikely toget afederalbail-out.
If they were used to bail out commercial banks directly, they could break the pernicious circle in which unstable banks use the debt of barely solvent governments to shore themselves up.
Reformers have advocated making bounty-hunters subject to the same constitutional restrictions as the police, or even eliminating the commercial bail-bond industry altogether, as three states, including Illinois, have already done.