Where did i say we should be giving banks bailouts? How about PREVENTING those systemic risks that lead to one?

Giving banks bailouts creates a moral hazard. If banks KNOW that if they fuck up they are going down, they will be less likely to allow 1 person to fuck up.

That's not true at all. There are BIG incentives at work for banks to take risky positions, even at risk of the bank. Joseph Cassano took insane risks, brought down AIG, but he made $300 million dollars. Sure his name is mud, but he's insanely wealthy and never has to work another day in his life, multiple times over. If you can make that much money in such a short period of time, who the hell cares if the bank crashes and burns, bailout or not.

Investment banking risk and personal risk has become completely decoupled. The only time officers were more prudent when investment banks were run as partnerships and their OWN equity was at risk. But now these investment banks are run as publicly traded companies, and it's the investor's money at risk. Why NOT take that risk? It's not your own money you're losing.

The libertarians are NOT right. The best thing is to prevent the risk that leads to collapses in the first place and bailouts after.

The "London Whale" was reportedly making 30 million a year for JP Morgan. I highly doubt his lifestyle will be affected much if he gets the boot.