Government Bailouts Through the Years

This year, we've seen an extraordinary string of U.S. government-led or engineered multibillion-dollar bailouts of major financial companies -- from Bear Stearns to AIG (AIG Quote).

However, this is not the first time in history that a government has had to run to the rescue of an individual company or a whole financial system. And I have no doubt that 2008 will not be the last time, as there is likely to be another financial breakdown in the future that will arise from a yet unknown set of risks.

2008: Bear Stearns and Beyond

In March, Bear Stearns, faced with a liquidity crisis was taken over by JP Morgan Chase (JPM Quote), aided by Federal Reserve loan guarantees. Absent these loan guarantees, Bear Stearns would go bankrupt and accelerate the bad debt-induced liquidity crisis across other banks and broker-dealers. ...