I have been commenting (okay, really complaining) that the bail-outs of the banks really only helps the banks, and ultimately hurts everyone else. Let me explain:
Banks are in trouble because they loaned out money to people that are having a hard time paying them back. That’s mortgages, and credit cards, and car loans, and… well you get the point.
So the government gives money to the banks. OUR money to the banks. Money from the people that are having a hard time paying the bills.
As I see it, this results in taxpayers (you know, those of us giving the money to the Government to use “wisely” on our behalf) owing two debts instead of one. I have the original debt that I have a hard time paying, and now I have this NEW debt that my government has assumed on my behalf. Thanks, Government. You’re a peach.
What would I have done? Well, given that “let things work themselves out without government meddling ” isn’t a good idea (apparently) I would have said “hmm…. let’s give the money to the people that owe the money. Let them pay the banks back, so the banks get the capital they need, and we don’t drown our populace in debt.”
Imagine that. The government supporting the banks through helping the people the government is really here to help–THE PEOPLE!
Thankfully, we have people like Jon Stewart on our side. Unfortunately, the government doesn’t listen.
But you should. Get a cup of coffee and take a 10 minute break from work and watch.
Well, yes.
There is some logic to the theory that “having a homeless person rob me on the street corner” is more efficient than “having the IRS rob me, take their cut off the top, and then give the money to an organization that runs a soup kitchen, that serves a meal to a homeless person.”
The direct way is much more efficient, and cuts out all those pesky middlemen.
As long we’re all o.k. with how the homeless person spends the money they rob from us . . .
[p.s. why are we assuming that it is MY FAULT my next door neighbor took out a second on an overvalued home they couldn’t afford, so that they could buy a cruise they couldn’t afford? Our local media was all up in arms over the rising foreclosures . . . until they started doing some research, and found most of their “poster children” were, shall we say, somewhat unsympathetic figures . . . ]