I like how you managed to use "Corporations" and "responsibilities" in the same sentence, KK. That, in and of itself, is impressive writing. Anyone who can take that a step further and answer your question honestly, without using a dollar sign somewhere in the equation, would be worthy of a Pulitzer Prize.

Money may not buy happiness (boy, is that a questionable cliche), but it sure can buy just about anything else, including, tragically, votes in Congress. Corporations have plenty of money. Should they hit a bump in the road, their friends in Washington will have plenty to lend to ensure that every executive gets his Christmas bonus (or stock options).

On the topic of the bailouts, I knew the American Way had officially died when I heard the phrase "too big to fail" being used as the justification for bailing out giant corporations. Last time, it took the Carnegies and Rockefellers owning virtually the whole country to get Congress to finally put a stop to corporate domination. What will it take this time around? Pretty scary to think we aren't there yet, and sad to see that we didn't learn anything the first time around.