Sometimes the Bear eats you

Here's what no one's said about the Bear Stearns sweet deal:

Last Friday, thousands or millions of everyday investors, people counting on 401(k)s and IRAs for their future, owned shares of Bear still worth more than $30.

If JP Morgan had decided Monday to try a buyout, it would have had to go to the market, and those folks might have gotten, oh, $27, $25, $21 -- something.

Instead, the Fed and JPM cut a deal over a weekend and decide the shares will be worth just $2. That adds up to a couple hundred million for those shareholders. Bear Stearns' building alone is worth much more than that.

Is this the way the market is supposed to work? Because if it is, we shouldn't put a dime into stocks, because the Fed can decide to write your stocks off tomorrow and hand the company you own to someone else for pennies on the dollar.

Simply amazing. The government didn't act this fast to bailout Katrina victims.