Then they're not 'experts,' are they?

In this story about Uncle Sam potentially taking a 40% interest in Citigroup, this paragraph caught my eye:

When federal officials began pumping capital into U.S. banks last October, few experts would have predicted that the government would soon be wrestling with the possibility of taking voting control of large financial institutions.

Maybe that should read "few self-proclaimed experts," or "few talking heads listed in the speed dial of major media outlets." Any expert worth their salt would know that once Uncle Sam puts money into something, it comes with hooks and controls. Any form of government handout equates to a handover of freedom on some level. That's why some institutes of higher learning, for example, won't even allow their students to use government aid programs. Some of these exchanges appear relatively harmless, but it should be axiomatic the larger the government involvement, the greater the loss of independence. That's why nationalized health care would be a disaster in terms of people controlling their own lives.

For years the government encouraged us to live beyond our means, to spend our way to alleged happiness. Now that we're in the inevitable economic hangover of fiscal imprudence, we are being fearmongered into letting Leviathan off its leash. The beast looks at us with coyness, promising to set all to rights. But once unchained, it is hard to again put in its pen. We really need to start relying on ourselves and not silver-tongued public officials to put our houses in order. But then, that's called taking responsibility -- something that's been in pathetically short supply for about the last two generations.