Can the Financial Industry Pay for its Own Bailout?

As part of Washington's plan to fix Wall Street regulations, lawmakers, supported by President Obama, want financial firms, rather than taxpayers, to pay for future bailouts of their industry.Such a suggestion is impractical. In a future crisis, the financial industry would need more than $20 trillion up front to cover unknowable losses if it were to avoid turning to government, the current crisis shows. That's the amount that would keep investors from deserting the financial system and causing a depression. This price tag is far beyond what the industry could afford.