Bailout mentality

Bailout mentality is a pejorative term used to refer to those who favor more and more taxpayer funded bailouts for corporations and individuals who made bad financial decisions.
The phrase gained widespread use in late 2008. For example, in a December 2, 2008 Wall St. Journal editorial, Rick Perry and Mark Sanford wrote, "As governors and citizens, we've grown increasingly concerned over the past weeks as Washington has thrown bailout after bailout at the national economy with little to show for it. In the process, the federal government is not only burying future generations under mountains of debt. It is also taking our country in a very dangerous direction -- toward a 'bailout mentality' where we look to government rather than ourselves for solutions."
In a December 10, 2008 editorial in the San Francisco Chronicle, Debra J. Saunders wrote, "The bailout mentality is growing - as is the list of people who believe they should be recipients."
On December 9, 2008, writing for U.S. News & World Report, Matt Bandyk wrote, "That's why this bailout mentality is so corrosive to this country's entrepreneurial spirit. It props up what is already existing at the expense of developing something new."
In a November 26, 2008 editorial for Human Events, Mark Skousen wrote, "The price for this 'bleeding heart do-gooder' bailout mentality will be steep. Expect deficits to exceed $1.5 trillion in 2009 and beyond. Much will depend on how many other bailouts the government will undertake. The list of handouts could be long -- commercial banks, insurance companies, auto makers, credit card issuers, states and municipalities."

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