TARP, a bailout of financial firms that had purchased credit-default swaps from AIG.

An article in The Wall Street Journal is about how prosectors initially thought they had a strong case against Joseph Cassano, whose derivatives unit helped drag down AIG, and how he escaped prosecution shows the complexity of the probes stemming from the financial crisis.

The only reason for this post is to share one statement in the article that reflects how I felt in 2008 and how I feel now about the government bailout of Wall Street, regardless of the merits of the arguments put forth that doing so saved the Republic.

The statement:

AIG's near-collapse sent shock waves through the financial system. The merits of the Federal Reserve aid package that saved the firm are being debated today. Critics have called it a backdoor bailout of financial firms that had purchased credit-default swaps from AIG.