Like many of you, I followed the bailout plan this week, renamed the Economic Recovery Package when it failed to pass. Now, lacking a degree in economics, I’ll admit, the ramifications are beyond me. That’s a macro position that I am not equipped to analyze. I’m too busy in my micro position worrying about, well, ME!
But, I have to tell you, I’m not thrilled. When the market dropped 777 points, one for each of those billion dollars our government wanted to give away, I thought poetic justice. Since the market dropped another 157 points AFTER the bill passed, guess I’m not alone in my disgust. It’s not that the package doesn’t affect me, believe me, I know it does. But that effect is “out there,” and trust me, today is all the struggle I can handle.
In my early career I managed a credit department. Here’s how things went. Companies started up. They bid on jobs. They got lots of business, usually because they bid too low (poor management.) They went broke. Other companies bid well and secured jobs. But they had lots of toys – trucks and boats and motorhomes – (greed.) They went broke. The smart companies bid well, completed jobs and lived like there wouldn’t be another job for awhile. They saved. And, they’re still in business today, probably with lots of toys because they managed well and saved for them.
Bailing out AIG means rewarding poor management and greed. It means tacking another $770 billion in deficit onto the backs of our kids and grandkids and great-grandkids. It means that our politicians found a way to get all their earmarks in one place by turning 3 pages into thousands. It means, once again, the taxpayer got the shaft.
You might say, well, what about the lost jobs if AIG failed, or what about the people who invested in AIG who’d lose everything? I bet we could have written each of them a check to cover their losses for a whole lot less than $770 billion.
Let me ask you, if you overspent (poor management) and bought things you couldn’t afford (greed), who is bailing you out? As I recall, not too long ago our government tightened bankruptcy rules because our fiscal foolishness was costing companies too much money. Yet, their financial failings become another cost to you because somewhere, somehow, $770 billion has to come back to the coffers. That means a tax increase.
So, while AIG and friends keep making millions running (into the ground) their companies, many of us will find that all our efforts to cut coupons, use the buddy system, do without, take the bus, walk, or bike to save on gas, and buy second-hand aren’t enough. Increased taxes, tightened credit, more “rightsizing,” and spiralling costs will force us into bankruptcy court. Where AIG should have been. But, like I said, I don’t have a degree in economics.
Vote November 4 – it’s your money!
