When it's  outright theft of value (via currency devaluation or zero % interest rates or a host of other manipulations) from older folks and from those who have played by all the rules their whole life and tried to save a little along the way, by recklessly destroying the currency and their "store of value" then it's sinister. Couple that with govt. collusion because they are bought and paid for by wall street and banking interests then it also becomes sinister. Have you forgotten HP's threat of imminent martial law if he did not get a blank check for oh say 700 billion in bailouts while guaranteeing there was no repercussions to him for how it was used or that he campaigned personally for the raising of leverage ratios to these ridiculous levels in the first place.

Capitalism is about making money for sure but the flip side is that there is supposed to be a few sound regulations and principals along the way to avoid these extreme scenarios we are seeing unfold. The other feature of capitalism that everyone likes to forget about is that when you guess wrong and do risky stupid things you lose your money, business or house and go bankrupt. You don't get to hold the taxpayer/savers/folks who did not do risky things hostage and demand they take the loss for your irresponsible actions.

If I borrow 200k and can't make the payments and you save 200k from your own hard work and sweat of your brow should I be able to nullify a return on your saved money by making your interest rate zero? demand you pay my debt through confiscatory means (taxpayer bailout) ? or devalue the currency so you only have $50k or less worth of stored value that represents your hard work and your labor over time ?

The actions of the banks and trading firms with their computer trading programs amongst themselves to give the illusion of volume and micro second front running of ordinary investors trades to ensure you always pay a little bit more for every transaction are just a couple examples. Of course when they are privy to this info by lack of enforcement and collusion by regulators/agencies who slap a AAA rating on everything coming down the pike it's hard to get a fair play in a rigged casino type atmosphere designed to extract the maximum price on every individuals transactions.

Yes it is the American way to make lots of money it's also the American way to be responsible for your own actions and being subjected to bankruptcy when you do risky things. Not demanding and forcing taxpayers or others make you whole at their expense while you have no consequences for your actions.

Only my ¼¢ worth (due to devalued currency)