they were? I cant tell if you were joking or not…I dunno how well you all follow the news when it comes to the economy but I follow it like a hawk and the sad part is that yes some companies are so big and vital that the government cant let them fail. As it stands now the government has some stake in every major bank in the us right now. They forced Bank of America to take tarp funds and with it BofA had to give some stock to the government. It will happen more and more often as we get deeper and deeper into the depression. America was the beacon of hope for free trade but everyone sees what a mess we made and they are no longer supporting free trade.