The U.S. taxpayer is being swindled into buying the garbage of banks and investment firms while they'll keep the cream and make a ton of money as a result.

The government, you and me, should demand a piece of each of those banks or investment firms which get some of the money from the bailout. We will be on the hook for all the non-performing or bad loans that we could very well lose a ton of money on. We, as taxpayers, need a hedge against those potential losses. We are shouldering a lot of risk and we need to be paid for that risk. There is no upside for taxpayers in this deal. Even if government modifies the mortgages, to try and make it so people keep their homes, that will cost us because it means we have to devalue the mortgages more than they already are.

We need some assurance of a return on this. Apparently nobody is going to be fired or jailed in this, so if the end game, as established by the major players, is to make money then the taxpayer has to be part of that.