Government using taxpayer money to prop up failing businesses to the tune of billions perhaps trillions of dollars is not good. We get stuck with the bill for bad business practices, and I guarantee you the government is now even further intertwined with running those businesses than they were before. The idea of the government having even more control over trillions of dollars of American mortgages makes me very uneasy.

Yes, the alternative is painful. Nationalizing (or coming close to) big parts of the economy is a bad idea though.

Article 1, Section 8 of the United States Constitution lays out the only things the federal government is allowed to spend money on. Those items, nothing else. Until amended, any spending on items unauthorized is unconstitutional and thus illegal.

Adrian