[eclecticEel]

Rather they know that at the end of the day they'll still have power and access provided they cultivate the right political connections. Those who ingratiate themselves with the right set of people will do well for themselves, those who fail to do so will be crushed.

[Emile]

Right you are. Nothing more than crony capitalism at its finest. The deal is: the government keeps shoveling them our money, with the proviso that, if there’s a populist eruption to be exploited for political purposes, the fat cats will agree to act as whipping boys for a temporary period. This allows the administration and congress to pretend to be concerned about the ordinary citizen, while all the time allowing them to run down free-market capitalism (which of course this is NOT) as evil — which furthers their ultimate endgame, which is the destruction of American capitalism and its replacement with a command economy, run by the pols and the fat cats.