The Difference Between Autos and Banks

Harold Meyerson compares the sensible handling of the auto companies by the Obama administration with their handling of the banks:

In other words, the Treasury's approach to the auto industry is equitable,
responsible to taxpayers and economically sensible. It is also, in almost every
particular, the diametric opposite of its approach to the banks. In return for
its major loans to floundering auto companies too big and strategic to be
allowed to go under, the Treasury opted for a structured bankruptcy, converting
its loans to shares, ousting top executives, shrinking the companies. In return
for its mega-loans to floundering banks that were also too big and strategic to
fail, the Treasury has not opted for structured bankruptcy, has not converted
its loans into shares, has not forced out top executives, has not moved to make
banks smaller (save in its proposal to limit leverage). Indeed, its bailout of
AIG rewarded bondholders such as Goldman Sachs to the detriment of everyone
else.