What would Karl Marx say about the economic bailout?

Answer 1

He would say that it is the responsibility of the government to protect the interests of its citizens. It doubtful however he would agree with the ethics of those doing it.

--- Second opinion

He might consider that the financial crisis is the end product of greedy capitalists, who can take excessive risk without consideration of their consequences and politicians, unwilling to rein in these risky ventures when things are going well. He would want a law that would take away all the houses, cars, etc that the COE's have, sell them and give the money to the people who have suffered. The Treasury Department would be run by people who had been through foreclosure.

--- Third Opinion

Marx understood capitalism to be ever innovating - it was and is quite impossible for it to remain stagnant. It is Marx who said that, and I'm paraphrasing, "One capitalist kills a hundred." This crisis, however severe, is just another evolution in the capitalist system. As businesses fail, the strongest survive. Marx might say the bailout is a good example of the false-consciousnesses that we've internalized as members of the Proletariat class. That is to say, we believe it's in our best interests that Wall Street succeed or that, colloquially, Wall Street's happiness begets Main Street's prosperity. We believe this because the capitalists have taught us that it is so. (This answer is based on Marx's writing. Those above, to my knowledge, are not.)

Answer 2

Karl Marx would likely criticize the economic bailout as a way for the capitalist ruling class to protect their own interests and maintain their power over the working class. He would argue that it reinforces the inequalities of the capitalist system and does not address the underlying issues of exploitation and alienation.