[mneil]

I'm just an average consumer. But to me, thinking about capitalism, businesses should not be bailed out ever by government. They should fail and new business will take it's place and do it better, faster, or cheaper.

That said, the shutdown is government mandated. We're completely outside the spectrum of capitalism at this point. There is no free market when the government intervenes at any point. Since the feds shut it down it does make some sense that they also prop it up.

[giantg2]

I agree. It also depends on how they prop it and to what extent they get involved.

For example, they became shareholders in of companies during the last bailout and even turned a profit. That's sort of free market because they are utilizing the existing market structure and investing sort of similarly to regular investors. The only concern is how they would exercise their voting rights if they choose to, especially if they ever became a majority owner.

[mxab]

You're forgetting that there are some businesses that have a special strategic importance for a country, for example airlines or defence-related stuff. The rules of capitalism don't really apply to those kind of businesses, because governments would like them to be around even if capitalism itself happens to come crashing down.

Also, since a government has to take into account the political fallout from any bankruptcy, e.g. joblessness, the decision to bail out a company can be a rational choice inside capitalism's framework of rules from the government's perspective, especially in countries with a stronger welfare system.