Fat cats don't have to pay their debts
Joe K: "So in the US you can just get billions/millions in debt, file this Chapter 11 thing, and all your debts are gone? I know thats not the way, but it seems to be recently. File it, creditors get nothing, business as usual."
Yes but only the *rich* get to do that now - it's a subset of the well-known phenomenom called "corporate welfare." The rich right-wing Republicans think it's wonderful, because it protects their royal asses - that way, they can use TAXPAYER MONEY for executives' Golden Parachutes and fancy yachts etc. All that bullshit about Republicans being fiscal conservatives only applies to their OWN money, not someone else's!
Meanwhile, their former workers and stockholders are having their houses repo'd or wondering how long it will be before they're waiting in line with the winos and the much-despised "welfare moms" and other degenerates at the food-bank.
For *normal* working people (not the rich hoity-toity), there have been laws enacted (several years ago) that make it much more difficult for Joe Average worker to file bankruptcy... hmm... almost like they knew it was coming...
Greedy fat cats win, as always. Nothing new there. Just more public and visible this time, is all. They've become quite bold.