The stock market took a dive today. The Dow dropped more than 380 points. Why? Because the financial life support program announced by the new Secretary of the Treasury has a “stress test” provision. More specifically, in order to get government bailout money in the future banks will have to prove that, even if economic times get tougher, they will be able to repay government loans.

For anyone who has ever had to negotiate a business loan from a bank such a provision might evoke the response: “Well, yeah.” What bank, after all, would give a business money if that business couldn’t convince that it could repay the bank even if times got tougher?

That’s what you or me or anyone else seeking a loan from a bank would have to prove. But when banks themselves are asked to meet the same basic test, the market was appalled. Appalled!

The reason for this reaction is not hard to fathom. In the 1950s the head of a company that was then king of the road said of this outfit: “What’s good for General Motors is good for America.” In recent years, and especially during the reign of Hank Paulson at Treasury, the attitude was: “What’s good for Goldman and JP Morgan and Citi and Wells Fargo and the rest of the Big Bank Gang is good for America.” And therefore we, the public, had to service these banks’ interests no matter what.

Well guess what, kids. There’s a new economic ethic abroad. It goes: “What’s good for the American government is good for America, and you have to accommodate.” Learning takes time. But for the Big Bank Gang, it would be prudent to learn this new lesson very, very quickly.