In the past, investors have inferred that such political appointments mean that the federal government will rescue Fannie and Freddie in case of default.

Some airlines may have hoped that the government would rescue them from the toughest aspects of fixing their broken businesses.

"Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us," Jindal said.

Many places, like San Juan Bautista, did not worry when they spent more than they took in each month, thinking that the governments above would rescue them.

With the help of the NGOs, the government rescued over 70 trafficking victims.

On Monday the government of Belgium rescued the insurance company Ethias with a €1.5 billion capital injection.

Some economists believe that the government should rescue troubled banks directly, by buying special issues of preference shares.

The American public felt the government was rescuing them from price gougers and from a foreign-caused exchange crisis.

Crumbling until the government rescued them a decade ago, many have been reconstructed, and are now home to art galleries, cafés and boutique hotels.

However, for this to act as an effective discipline, the market must believe that the government would not rescue the firm if bankruptcy actually did occur.