Originally Posted by
procede
Do not worry. If we, the taxpayers, do save them, this will be in a way which essentially will make the stock worthless (i.e. nationalisation). The shareholders will thus be the first who will be screwed over.
Real question is what happens to their (typically offshore) debt if they are bailed out. Shareholders get a much worse deal both ways these days, used to be you got the profits in the good times and took the losses in the bad times, now in the good times you get a share of whats left of the profit, after tax and the holders of the offshore leveraged debt take cut (tax free).
IMO taxpayer bailouts for businesses with too little in reserve to survive a downturn should generally not go to the holders of the debt that put the business in that position in the first place, and particularly not when that debt is offshore to avoid paying tax on the profits.