And yet, it happens anyway.  Worse, in the US the bailouts were added to the deficit, to be paid by my grandchildren instead of current taxpayers.  That's such an awful precedent I can't see any path back to respectablility for the US.  The current deficit is impossible to repay already, and continues to grow.  Default and economic breakdown are inevitable.

Furthermore, so many things are illegal in the US today, the average middle class American commits 3 felonies per day without their own knowledge of the violations.  The IRS scandal right now is proof that the average government agent is not aware of the laws that govern his own job, and that the basic understanding that picking on a group that you don't agree with is a felony was absent from the IRS.  It's also absent from the ATF, I've seen that one personally; and government agents tend not to listen to those around them who have a deeper understanding of the law.