Hopefully someone who understands it more can explain. I could be completely wrong, forgive me in advance. The way I understand it is this: If the government were to bail out a company, let's say an airline company. The airline company would be required to give the government let's call it *collateral in stocks or bonds. After the airline company is back up and running up to par, the airline company would be required to buy their individual stocks and bonds back from the government. I think it's an interest free thing. Because usually a government should only bail out companies or industries that are important to the national economy such as, agriculture, airline travel, banks.