25 September 2008

corporate vs. personal responsibility.....the bail out

I'm furious. And you should be too. What is going on in our beloved democracy? Why is capitalism and the free market system heralded as the saviour of mankind, then so quickly subsidized when we realize a mess has been made of the financial markets?

Why is "corporate responsibility" derided by Republicans as hurting the free market, when the same tout "personal responsibility" when they want to neglect the poor? And can someone tell me why the heck it is MY responsibility to shore up shoddy credit and bad investment decisions by lending institutions who just wanted to turn a quick buck and then sell the "toxic paper" debt on to others with the same goal?

So, should I join the revolution and just not pay my mortgages? Here we are, practicing personal financial responsibility by prudent spending, doing without new cars and cable, and a lot of other luxuries many in our generation feel are rights/owed to them......and get them by going into debt accessing credit on inflated homes......really nice homes........and then the bottom falls out and my tax dollars, and my children and grandchildren have to clean up the mess? Where is the lending institution's personal responsibility? The borrower? Lehman Brothers?

This is corporate welfare we are being told must be paid out to these financial institutions with the threat of "total financial collapse" if we do not. This is in essence socialism.....a redistribution of wealth....$700 billion.....to guys who made some bad decisions, but want to keep their Lexuses. And for some reason, when we talk about helping the poor, the homeless, those without health care........Republicans want to throw out the "socialism" term. Unbelievable.

As scary as it may sound, I just wonder if we don't need a collapse. Our economy has been built on low-paying jobs and easy access to credit on inflated valued homes. Shoring it up is like putting duct tape over a burst pipe. I don't know that Democrats have the answers here, but it's clear the President does not. Ron Paul seems to make the most sense........and that to me is troubling enough.

Join me in "Ban the Bailout"

6 comments:

vanilla said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
vanilla said...

As a Brit recently pointed out, it is interesting that we readily capitalise the profits but are all too willing to socialise the losses.

Anonymous said...

Ron Paul, that crazy kook, is looking pretty good these days.

hoosier reborn said...

I'm wishing I caught the comment before the author deleted it! Although it makes me wonder if Natalie was ditto-ing that or my post....I'll go with my post.

Vanilla-I think the Brit put it best.

Jeff-I have a few Paul-friends who are pretty pleased with themselves right now....and have been sure to let me know.

Luke said...

Kurt- I not too long ago got internet back in my house and decided to catch up on some reading. It sounds like you too have been going through a lot of change. I spend my JR High and high school days in southeast Ohio and a lot of your posts remind me of back in my midwestern days. I hope you are doing well and hopefully you can figure out why I am still losing money on my unsell-able house back in Florida...

Anonymous said...

AMEN and DITTO!

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