We're the fish.
The giant "too big to fail" banks are the bird. They've got their talons in the American consumer and the economy.
The only way out for us - the fish - is if someone "shoots" the bird ... or at least captures it and removes its talons from our hide.
In other words: Unless the mega-banks are broken up and reined in, we're in quite a pickle.
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http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2010/10/there-is-only-one-way-out-of.html">From Washington's Blog
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The whole read is pretty good. Like many have observed, the banks have got us by the short and curlys now. It was bad enough when they were screaming doom and destruction if we didn't bail them out, but we did and we are still screwed. Even worse, we've taken the absolute dregs of the toxic assets and transferred them from the banks to people's balance sheets.
I can only hope that someone in Washington stands up soon to say "screw the banks, let them fail" and starts looking for ways to save the people instead. I'm not holding my breath.