Tuesday, November 25, 2008

THE SOCIETY TO ASSIST IRRESPONSIBLE GRASSHOPPERS

Written By D.

So many people are outraged about the corporate bailouts. I’m wondering why they aren’t outraged about individual bailouts.

If you turn on the TV these days, you can’t watch for more than 15 minutes, without a viewing a commercial explaining how, if you contact their toll free number, they can help you cheat the government out of the taxes you owe, paying only pennies on the dollar. It goes something like; “Wow, I owed the government $50,000 in back taxes, but I went to SO & SO Company and they settled my debt for only $1,000!”

And how about those credit card debts? No problem, you can call a toll free number and they will show you how to unload your debt WITHOUT hurting your credit rating. “Wow, I owed $10,000 in credit card debt, but thanks to SO & SO Company, I don’t have to pay it!”

Who are these commercials aiming at? My guess is they’re aimed at individuals looking to bailout of personal debt.

Now, if someone doesn’t pay the income taxes they owe, who do you think picks up the slack? If someone doesn’t pay their credit card debt, who pays? Yep, it’s the rest of us. And now we will be bailing out homeowners with big mortgages they can’t afford and giving tax relief to people who don’t pay taxes.

People are doing a lot of complaining about companies and government acting irresponsibly, but in many ways they just mirror what our society is becoming. Personal responsibility used to be something people took pride in, now acting responsibly is just for us suckers. Trouble is, there are fewer and fewer of us suckers left to pick up the tab.

I hear complaints all the time about kids going off to college and being “sucked in” by credit card companies. They ring up thousands of dollars in charges and surprise, they can’t pay the debt. But no one told them to accept the credit card and charge up all that debt, they did that all on their own. Yet, who is at fault? Yep, blame the credit card company.

But the kids are just mirroring their parents self gratifying behavior … no one told them to buy the big house they can’t afford. No one told them to buy the car they can’t afford. No one told them to buy all those big screen TVs and gadgets they can’t afford. I don’t own a big screen TV and my home is not huge, but I don’t have a mortgage and I paid for my kid’s very expensive college education. I achieved both by working hard and saving money. Oh yea, and I also took the time to teach my kid personal responsibility.

So, when I hear people complaining about the bailouts, saying things like, “Where’s my bailout?” I realize that the grasshoppers are taking over the anthill and I really don’t have much sympathy because I’m one of the ants. I am a charitable person but I would never choose “The Society to Assist Irresponsible Grasshoppers” as my favorite charity. I prefer donating to real victims of disasters that are not of their own making.

When a society rewards irresponsible personal behavior and votes for the politician offering the most government goodies they are in no position to complain about corporate bailouts. If those whining grasshoppers want to know what’s wrong with our government and the economy, I suggest they start by looking in the mirror.

3 Comentários:

garyganu said...

Well said D.

Federal bailouts will reward inefficient, corrupt and unprofitable corporations. Bailouts also tempt businesses and government officials with corruption. Bailouts also stifle the growth of healthy, profitable companies, because they are competing at a disadvantage with government subsidized companies, who are crowding them out of the market.

Besides all of that, as you have written, bailouts are immoral. I have always thought that bankruptcy is a legal solution to a financial problem, but not a moral solution. A noble person will do what it take in order to pay his debts.

I have written several articles on this topic. One of them is entitled "The Spiritual Root Cause of America's Economic Woes" the link is http://garyganu.blogspot.com/2008/10/simple-root-cause-of-americas-economic.html

What say you?

garyganu said...

D.

Thanks for reading my articles about the root cause of our economic woes and why bailouts don't work.

For an article about the solution to our economic crisis, please read "Two Concise Reasons Why We Face Certain Economic Doom" at:

http://garyganu.blogspot.com/2008/11/two-concise-reasons-why-we-face.html

Let me know what you think.

Gary

garyganu said...

D.
Which restrictions on American business would you like to see eased in order to allow them to compete better in an global market?

I will list some of the major restrictions that our government places on American business. These restrictions grossly increase their cost of doing business as compared to foreign companies from China and Mexico, for example.

1)US companies have restrictions placed on children, under the age of 16, in the labor force.

2)US companies place restrictions on minimum wages.

3) US companies require workers to be covered by "Workman's Compensation"insurance,"unemployment"insuranse, social security and medicare.

4) US companies are restricted from dumping waste in waterways, in the air or in unregulated landfills.

5)US companies must comply with strict OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)regulations, which protect workers from unsafe working conditions in factories, mines, and other businesses.

6) Us companies face safety regulations which, among other things, prevent them from using lead based paint in children's toys or produce tires that are likely to blow out and cause crashes.

7) US food companies are strictly regulated for food safety.

7) US drug companies are required to have costly trails and get FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval before being allowed to put medications on the market.

7) Factories, commercial buildings and homes, face strong building code regulations. These regulations are intended to reduce building, fires, collapses and accidents. Also these regulations help buildings stand up to hurricanes earthquakes and other natural disasters.

US auto manufactures face strict safety and environmental regulations to make sure that vehicles on American highways are as safe and pollution-free as possible.

These are just some of the US regulations that I can think of off the top of my head. Although many of these regulations go too far, and some may not be effective, for the most part these costly regulations on US business help America to produce the safest products, under the safest, cleanest and most humane conditions. This is done in a manner that keeps American waterways, air and land, cleaner and healthier than most other nations of the world.

There are only two options that can level the playing field when competing with foreign businesses. The first would be to place tariffs on imports. The second would be to remove the regulations that I listed above, which make the cost of doing business in the US, more costly than doing business in other parts of the world.

The US has grown to be the freest, most prosperous, most benevolently powerful nation in the world. We provide the safest products for American consumers as well as the safest and most humane working conditions for its workers. It would be a step back into the dark ages, to reduce or eliminate many of the regulations that have protected American workers and consumers through the industrial revolution.

We can not control the way foreign countries choose to regulate their businesses. It is clear to me, that there is only one way to level the playing field, when competing with foreign businesses. It is to place tariffs and regulations on foreign imports, so that US industries can compete with them, while still maintaining our high American standards.

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