Billions handed over, virtually no questions asked, to those who should pay for their folly

YOUR editorial (March 3) about the forthcoming budget concludes with the assertion that the alternative to cutting wages, taxing the poorest and cutting public services is “unthinkable”.

To whom exactly? Bailing out failing banks with massive toxic debts to be paid for by these measures is what is unthinkable and should never have been contemplated. These undertakings can and must be undone.

What is being proposed is not merely a “change in lifestyle”: it’s the difference between third-level education or not, healthcare insurance or no healthcare insurance, work or no work — and so on — for a huge number of people.