Dr. Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:

"Over the last couple of months, I've been asked this many, many times. Someone will come up to me and say, 'Hey, I have a little shop, and if I get into trouble - financial trouble - and I have to go belly up - declare bankruptcy - the government's not going to come in and bail me out.' And that's true. Therefore, why should banks get special treatment? Well, I think the answer is because the banking sector is special. Let me give you an analogy. Think of the heart in our body. What does the heart do? Well, it pumps blood throughout the body. We need blood being pumped throughout the body to, actually, keep us alive, keep all the cells nourished. Well, think of the banking system as the heart of the economy. It pumps the blood of the economy, which is money and credit throughout the economic system. So if the banking system fails, if the banking system stops, you don't get that blood pumped throughout the economy, and the entire economy stops. We saw this in the 19th century, when we didn't have the government as a backstop to the banking system. So I think the banking system is, indeed, special because it's crucial for the rest of the economy. And that's why in most countries, there is a backstop - there is a government backstop - so that when the banking system does have problems, the government does step in to try to revive it."