I must be stooopid.....

I'm not really and expert on high finance, I mean I can barely balance my checkbook (although I do do it)so bear with me when I ask this really stupid question....

When did bankrupting a company and then having to be bailed out by the government become something you would get millions of dollars worth of bonuses for AND not be punished?

We're writing this big check to make sure our economy stays stable and we all jump on the bandwagon and have emergency meetings right NOW (what? no one knew this was happening? we couldn't have foreseen this?) and we have to make a decision right.this.very.minute about the bail out....and only after some stalling -- which pissed some people off, we concede to limiting executive payouts....but only if.we.make.a.decision.right.this.very.minute. Oh yeah, limiting...that would be government poking their noses in big-business...and why should government do that, I mean, big business is being run by such moral upright people (hey on both sides of the political fence, I want to be fair here, they're not all elephants)....right? Anyway it's more fun to mess with individual rights -- those pesky things that get in the way of running a tight ship.

So ---700 billion to save some companies and our country from financial disaster....but we whine and complain about fiscal responsibility blah blah blah, when someone wants a vote about a bill for oooh, say health coverage (because really we want people with schizophrenia on the streets without meds...I mean really if they wanted the voices to stop, then they could really get them to stop if they just try hard enough); Social services for the elderly and Oh My Gosh...do we really want to be soooo irresponsible to actually give an extra dime to the schools?

Again....I don't claim to understand...I pay my bills, on time, I have some debt (hey I'm in school, the kids have to go to daycare and I'm not working), My husband and I paid HUGE amounts of taxes this year (don't freakin' get me started...we paid taxes on stock that we could not cash in at a value of 20 a share and now they're worth 5 a share and so even if we could cash them in, why bother!) We paid 20% down on our house and didn't get more then we could afford...even when we were told we could afford 200k more (who does that?). We've been putting money in our 401k's since our very first paycheck at our very first jobs out of college.....we have college funds for the kiddos. We give to our church and charities (I know, I know what are we to do with the bleeding hearts like me). I'm liberal (not a dirty word by the way) and because of that I'm fiscally irresponsible?

Again...I guess that's just me being stupid.

Consequences? What are they?
3rd grade teachers who are sued because little joey can't read coming out of high school?

Schools lose money when their test scores are low? Isn't that punishing the victim?

Nurses lose their jobs and pensions and who knows what else when they give a wrong dose of a wrong medicine after taking care of 5 critically ill people, with no break, and a on double 12's (because we're not really in a health care crisis and we have plenty of nurses, doctors, hospital beds to go around -- hope ya'll are healthy).

If you don't pay your mortgage you lose your house.

If you don't pay your bills you have sucky credit.

BUT if you're a CEO and take millions of dollars in bonuses from 2003-2007 even though technically you really aren't making a profit and it's all about to go poof...nothing happens.

hmmmmm

Sucks to be the average joe (or josephina).

I'm not bitter or anything, I just DON'T UNDERSTAND.

Here's an idea, stop calling me names or people like me names, and let's all work together and make this country a better place!

I so wish (and I know my conservative brethren, if they haven't already stopped reading by now, are going to gasp) McCain would have picked Lieberman for his running mate. I mean that's seriously putting your money where your mouth is (and not in the pockets of bankrupting execs) when you talk about bi-partisan politics. I could so see how that would bring this country together, we could heal and we could make solid decisions about our economy, the war (ok, I'm not so liberal here -- but that's a different blog entry), about health care etc....

If we just worked together, prayed (in whatever religion you choose) for guidance, got our big fat egos out of our big fat hmmm, well you know -- I think we could make this work...

But, that's that pesky, pie in the sky, hopeful, non-pragmatic liberal in me talking....

Ooooh, sorry honey (yeah, yeah, hubby and I are on opposite sides of the fence, November every four years is a fun month in our house -- and before he gets credit for the financial decisions above...that's my territory...yup, the liberal).

oh you all know you still love me.
And I love you too!
We're all in this together.