I made no mention of anyone being politically sympathetic or otherwise. A private investor is _private_ and thus not subject to a government bailout. The argument for government bailouts used to be that "grandpa would lose his pension", I merely stated the terms that would make this non-applicable.

If pensions invest in the stock market, then they are de-facto acting as a bank. And last I checked, in the land of the free, you get to withdraw your 401k should you vibe with the decision to do so [please don't do this based on this post alone].

> A private investor is _private_ and thus not subject to a government bailout

What does this mean? Who do you think benefits from a bailout?

> If pensions invest in the stock market

Pensions are private investors. And pensions invest in all kinds of things. Plenty are already shareholders in these companies.

> last I checked, in the land of the free, you get to withdraw your 401k should you vibe with the decision to do so

This is a non sequitur. Nobody disputed this. And 401(k)s are not pensions.