Just recently, the French and Belgian authorities cooked up a massive bailout of the French bank Dexia, whose biggest trading partners included, surprise, surprise, Goldman, Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Here's how the New York Times explained the bailout:
To limit damage from Dexia’s collapse, the bailout fashioned by the French and Belgian governments may make these banks and other creditors whole — that is, paid in full for potentially tens of billions of euros they are owed. This would enable Dexia’s creditors and trading partners to avoid losses they might otherwise suffer...
When was the last time the government stepped into help you "avoid losses you might otherwise suffer?" But that's the reality we live in. When Joe Homeowner bought too much house, essentially betting that home prices would go up, and losing his bet when they dropped, he was an irresponsible putz who shouldn’t whine about being put on the street.
But when banks bet billions on a firm like AIG that was heavily invested in mortgages, they were making the same bet that Joe Homeowner made, leaving themselves hugely exposed to a sudden drop in home prices. But instead of being asked to "suck it in and cope" when that bet failed, the banks instead went straight to Washington for a bailout -- and got it.
Randolph Hollingsworth on 08 Jan 12Digital history is an emerging and rapidly changing academic field. The purpose of the Digital History Project is to educate scholars and the public about the state of the discipline by providing access to: interviews with scholars about topics related to digital history; presentations and essays about the field by noted scholars; syllabi and student projects from courses in digital history; reviews of major online projects and of tools which may be of use to digital historians; indices of peer-reviewed scholarship and digital projects; a directory of historians practicing digital history; and a clearinghouse of current events and news items of interest. Partners The site is made available through the generous support of the John and Catherine Angle Fund. It received production assistance from the New Media Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. This site is maintained by Douglas Seefeldt, Assistant Professor of History & Faculty Fellow, Center for Digital Research in the Humanities, and William G. Thomas, III, John and Catherine Angle Chair in the Humanities and Professor of History, both of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
