Should businesses be given the same help as northern rock to stop them going bust and save jobs?

Question

lets say the local corner shop or market trader

Answer 1

No. Then there would be no risk in having a business which would make it a win win situation for the owner (ie if the business works then he gets the profits and if it goes wrong then it doesn't matter because the government will bail him out).

The only reason they helped with the Northern Rock thing is because of the amount of money involved and the fact it could have caused massive problems for millions of people.

Also a lot of people forget that the shareholders have lost out (they haven't got their money back for their investment) so it's not as if no one is paying for it's near collapse.