The government has said it is near an agreement for a 700 BILLION dollar bailout of those companies that made bad loans and are now in trouble because of those loans. The government also recently passed a much smaller bailout for struggling auto makers in the United States.
There was a time when this country was about making it (or failing) on your own. The government was in place to maintain the basic infrastructure of the country, not to run the businesses. When did things change?
Our family is far from wealthy (or rich if you ask Sen. Obama). But we pay what we owe. We also have learned that making an investment in a business does not guarantee that we will make a profit or even see the return of our origional investment. This is one of the reasons we are cautious with our money.
It is fair that WE now how to bailout companies – whether it is the auto makers, the airlines or the mega banks – with money that we have been managing well? Even if this generation doesn’t end up owing painful taxes to pay for the bailouts, what’s to stop the government from getting even MORE involved in private industry?
There is so much more to consider about this most recent bailout than the financial implications. The government (and the people) should be slow to turn in this particular direction.