Why does the banker get the bailout and the merchant goes bankrupt?
Because systemic risk is not a justice-based possiblitity and the amount of debt determines on who the sky will fall (the bigger the debt the less chance to fall).
Why economic growth doesn’t raise living standards in the U.S.?
Because higher inequality is the dynamic of the American system and the middle and working classes are no longer the driver of growth in the United States.
Because new created fiat money stops in the first receivers, financial institutions, and the CPI (consumer price index) doesn’t reflect the prices of goods and service sold by the first receivers.