Off The Cuff

Bailouts: Fantastic Or Disastrous?

Posted by: From Arkansas in Are You Kidding Me? on Nov 20 2008

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Congress allocated $700 billion so that the companies going down the tubes on Wall Street can be bailed out. Now, at the time they were working on it, congress was also talking about helping homeowners to keep their homes. Once Paulson got into the act, he changed what congress had in mind and scotched the idea of helping homeowners. At this point in time, the only ones getting the big bailout money are the companies and, I might add, the brilliant CEOs that allowed this to happen in the first place. One has to wonder what is going to happen to the taxpayers money considering the IRS goes after those who don’t pay..with a vengeance. IRS people tend to leave the rest of us alone…most of the time.

Have the bright boys and girls of Wall Street been in time out enough yet? Actually, doubtful considering the fact that they were seen in exotic places having a good old time while the rest of the country was headed in a downward slide. See, they took lots of money away, millions for themselves, while their companies were going into the potty. After all the crying and begging, the companies that started all this are about to receive, selectively it seems, a load of money to shore them up again. Are we throwing good money after bad? Shouldn’t the current CEOs be replaced, at least? And without any severance pay since they have already gotten more than their fair share of the pie?

And as if that was not enough, the very generous congress is now balking at handing over money to the Big Three. Granted, the auto industry decided to drag their heels in getting our country away from the big oil problem. They actually seem to have helped with the pain at the pump themselves by not putting out more fuel efficient cars and trucks. For those of us who are old enough to remember this, we had cars with good mph in the sixties and seventies. In fact, if you look back, the mph was much better then than it is right now. I saw a commercial for a car that they were touting which was capable of 25 whopping miles to the gallon. Oh please. Are you kidding me? We had cars, not little cars either, that could do at least 35 miles per gallon and wished it was more. Oh no. They have been dragging their feet. We are dependent on big oil because the rather exclusive auto industry club doesn’t want any competition. We got that part. And speaking of parts, they seem to be under the impression that we love shelling out loads of bucks to fix our not-so-fuel-efficient cars too. The repair bills are totally out of line these days.

All this begs the question, why should they be bailed out then? Good one. If they continue in the fashion they are currently going, they should not. If congress chooses to give them some relief, it certainly should come with strings attached, big strings. But let’s talk about what would happen if the auto industry, even a portion of it goes down. It does not just have to do with one company here. It does not just have to do with one set of employees. There are thousands upon thousands of people working in the auto industry and related fields. If they get laid off, our country will be in such hot water that we will not be able to recover from it. For those who believe that the big three ought to be bailed out, congress and those who regulate the money are going to have to have assurances that the big three are going to seriously change their ways. If not, they have to bottom out. But watch out. The rest of the country is going to feel it and fast.

Are bailouts a good thing in general? That’s a hard question. These companies should never have come to this place. The only reason they did is greed, good old fashioned greed. In all cases, that is the word. From the money lenders, insurance companies, Wall Street crowd and the big three, it is all about GREED!! And now we all see what greed can do. It destroys and maims. Wall Street may have learned their lesson. I have a feeling the greedy CEOs are living large and have not learned a thing. Just my opinion here.

As for the big three, if they don’t get it together, they have to fall. If they do, we are all going to suffer from it. I can already hear the sound of the foreign car companies screaming in victory over the big three in this country. See, they had the right idea. They are going for compact, fuel efficient vehicles. Why didn’t the big three see this coming? They should have but they are so full of themselves that they thought they could run that show too. It didn’t work obviously. That would go along with the big oil companies that also wanted to run the show here. That is not working either. The lack of new refineries is appalling in this country. Middle east oil has us where they want us. Auto industry thought they did too. And it’s all about greed!!

So, what does the American public do to get the attention of those companies that are costing us all? Find out who they are, blog against them, stop buying their products. Above all, use the voice you have here online. Tell people about this. I know they can see television and read newspapers and magazines but are they really involved or are they just griping because they can’t have this or that? Now that the gas prices are going down, people are not as adamant about all this. They want to go about their business and let sleeping dogs lie. Unfortunately, we have been doing that for years and guess what? We are now living in the “what happens if” part of our lives. Right here. Right now. What are you going to do about it?

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