Government Owned Businesses

Does it trouble anyone else that the US Government is buying stock in US companies? I know that the senior preferred stock is without vote or board seat, but it's ownership just the same. The original plan was to buy bad loans, so that the banks would be fine and it would help the home owners. But instead, the banks get bought and now the possibility of buying auto manufacturing.

How does this help the average person? How does this help the US economy?

Look people, if even CBS news asks the question about the government owning everything, you know the thought has to be serious. (And if you didn't catch that, watch the above video).

I know that our economy is in trouble. I know that people will lose jobs if companies fail. I also know that should our government invest in companies that have made bad decisions and also don't provide for (force) those decisions to be made differently, we're just investing in a bad company and will lose our money. Then it's just assets to be seized by the creditors. That's right-- the people who hold the promissory notes (loans) get to be paid before the shareholders.

I guess I'm just a little miffed.