Too many people are way too shortsighted on this bailout issue. It's like if the US auto industry fails, the Big Two and the Other One, anyway, people think just let 'em fail, serves 'em right, but they fail to recognize that nearly immediately somewhere between 2.2 and 2.8 million people would be out of a job, from the plants themselves, the suppliers and the indirect jobs that rely on the industry.
If the banks and financial institutions are allowed to fail it won't be a handful of banks, it's be world wide, and the ramifications are mind boggling. If that happens people, will wish that it was only 2.8 million out of work. Commercial paper will be no more, short term loans will be impossible to get, and businesses of just about every kind would fail within weeks.
I don't like the buyout, either, as something should have been done long before it got to this point, but it's a little late to just ingore it and hope it goes away. If there's a viable alternative, I'm all for it. So far, ain't heard one.