re: #1178 jcm

Defense if part of the Consitutional Mandate.
So is international diplomacy and regulation to keep the states form getting into economic wars with each other (interstate commerce).

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

Where is the authority for the bailouts?

The constitution is a wonderful document, but it could not see 200 years into the future. Even things that we take for granted like the FAA, the FCC and the rest. The national banking system, taxes. even US currency were years in the future.