Norminn wrote:

How is giving my money to big banks NOT Socialist? And why do
Socialist countries have a much
higher standard of living than we do?

1. The government didn't give money to financial institutions - they've
engineered a set of financial instruments that, in lay terms, is similar to
a loan.

2. It was the government that CAUSED the financial institutions to collapse
in the first place (see Community Redevelopment Act and subsequent
regulations under Clinton), it's only fair the government make the financial
institutions whole.

3. Better standard of living? The devil is in the details. The U.S. is a
large, diverse country with many enclaves unique unto themselves. For
example, Norway has a very high SOL ($55,000 GDP per capita compared to $39k
for the US). But. If you consider only the northeast part of the US (or
California) and compare that to Norway, Norway looks like Zimbabwe.