I hate to reply with this sort of thing, but I gotta say "live bonus-to-bonus" is a great turn of phrase. Google says you're basically the second person to use it in the context of the current economy. (There are two others but not really the same context.)
(I hope there's a little room in the HN credos for some positive feedback.)
As for nationalization, it should start at the Federal Reserve which is as much Federal as Federal Express. What a screwed up system we have where our government is forever in debt while we use The Federal Reserve Note as our currency.