Forum Post: Was it necessary?

I pose a simple question: Was "bailing out" the big banks in late 2008 really worth it? Yes, their de-regulation and shady deals caused us to get stuck in this mess, and many people believe the government should not have given them any money. But the truth is that the money was not to be used by the banks to make other poor investments, but rather to open up the credit lines to regular people and buisnesses that are the life blood of our economy. These credit lines froze as the recession started because the banks did not want to lend out anymore money with the risk of losing it. By not being able to take out loans and mortgages, people could not buy cars and build additions to their homes, small buisnesses could not grow and expand, and big companies, such as McDonalds came close to not being able to pay their employees. Taking all this into consideration, the bank bailouts were necessary and kept us from from suffering an economic crisis that Ben Bernanke said would have rivaled the Great Depression.