Oldsmobile Nation

The banks' losses have been laid out for all the world to see. Then Congress engineered a series of bailouts to allow huge banks to be absorbed by larger banks. Number-four Wachovia was absorbed by number-one Citigroup in late September. Two months later, Citigroup was within a weekend of bankruptcy. The Treasury Department bailed it out.

Zombie banks. Zombie loans. Zombie taxpayers. It's the year of the living dead.

The government's efforts to control the auto and banking industries are examined by Gary North.