Reputation of Banks in America

I was trying to think of something positive to post about the current banking marketplace because there has been so much bad publicity within banking and I realized that every blog that has anything to do with the financial sector will be filled with rants and raves and I don't want my blog to be the same as all the others. So....what to write about? Well, I have always been one to look for solutions and look at what we can change to fix a problem that exists instead of just blaming and complaining but in this situation I am not sure there is going to be a way that bankers can come together to improve the situation as well as the reputation of the industry. Everyone will have an opinion on this subject and it feels almost impossible not to voice that opinion. So, although I tried to think of a topic to avoid "ranting" I just cannot seem to find a topic that anyone would feel is very relevent right now. So here is just some of the thoughts that have been swimming around in my head the past few weeks. I know that the mistakes made by the largest banks in the nation have negatively impacted all of the banks in the nation, if not directly then by the way Americans look at who we let manage our money. Isn't this basically the problem in every industry in America? The largest corporations control the economy and when they are unethical the government just bails them out! Of course this is the solution, it is the American way to just borrow and worry about the repayment later. Isn't that why so many American are in so much debt in the first place? I know bankruptcy laws are getting stricter every year, I can't imagine a small business owner even having the option in the future. I don't see the government bailing out small business that have failed, those small business owners are supposed to pay the consequences for their lack of business expertise. I don't see where the accountability is for these greedy corporate giant banks. I do feel for those Americans who didn't realize how the sub-prime mortgage industry works, and that they put this into the hands of "the finest financial professionals" and I feel for those who are losing thier jobs because of the declining economy, but it also causes me to wonder why if the government was capable of spending almost a trillion dollars to bail out some of its largest corporations so that many Americans do not lose thier houses, that there are still record numbers of families below the poverty line, hungry children in school, and families that literally are forced to move to the streets? It would seem that almost a trillion dollars invested in our largest resource--people--that we may not be in this situation at all. The "American Dream" that so many of us strive to live and is propoganded by the media seems only to be possible by spending more money than we earn and living with huge debt, using credit as our means emergency funds. The government seems to set the best example of this way of living.