George, you write:


A meme making the rounds is that it’s ironic that pro-capitalist firms are now going hat in hand to the federal government for bailouts.


That is an immediate confirmation of the recently identified economic law known as the Winners’ Free Lunch Law. The federal government is advertising its willingness to give out “free” money to bail out particular firms in trouble (firms aren’t “pro-capitalist,” they’re not ideological in that sense; they’re pro-making money, and if they can’t do it in the free market, but they can get it from you via government takings, they’ll do gladly go that route).