Thursday, September 25, 2008

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.

13 comments:

OHN said...

This whole mess angers me beyond belief! I want to bitch slap these execs with 3 homes on islands I haven't even heard of, with "golden parachutes" the size of the net worth of my entire town...honestly I am scared for what will happen in our kids future. I would rant more but then I would need to double up on my xan.ax.

tz said...

OHN...I KNOW, I try not to get too political on this blog...I kinda like the whole fun mommy blog thing...but I'm a little MAD. so i got on a soap box...go figure.

ganelle said...

I loved the rant. The whole thing pisses me off too!

However, I do think that the consequences of NOT doing the bailout are far worse than the consequences of DOING it. That said, those parachutes HAVE.TO.GO. It is beyond my comprehension that you can do a job SOOOO badly, and then get $161 million for it.

AUGGGHHHHH!

Anonymous said...

Ahhh
I don't know you, actually I just stumbled here from Logz' blog but....I could totally wrap you in a warm bloggy hug right now!
Why is this logic not pounded into the granite at the front of the white house, eh? C'mon!

It seems like priorities should be far easier to find.

Comedian Wanda Sykes does a hilarious bit about the budget deficit. She says that our national budget should be put into the hands of a group of single working mothers. Because they know how to pinch a penny and still make sure there's enough food on the table, education for everyone, and a little fund on the side for the future!

Mmmhmmm. That's right girl.

Jenelle said...

whatever happened to personal responsibility?

Mrs4444 said...

Guess I'm stupid, too, because I don't get it, either.

tz said...

ganelle, I agree, but that makes me mad too...someone did something wrong and there's no consequence, because the consequence hurts everyone...it's just so frustrating, because we as regular folk don't get chances like that

hi amanda, thanks for coming by...single moms would proably give good financial advice!

janelle...no kidding

mrs 444, i think they're a lot of us that are stoopid...

Rock Chef said...

That was fantastic - you really hit the nail on the head!

But having said all that, I think the world wide consequences of NOT holding things up don't really bear thinking about.

Meanwhile it would make a lot of sense, while they are at it, to put a bit more money into health and education, like you say - what harm would another couple of billion do?

As for people taking huge mortgages that they know they can't pay back - I know people who have done it over here!

Dodi said...

I'm a liberal too. Shhhhh, don't tell the PTCO!

I have to say that we don't have a choice, a bail out is going to have to happen. Look at all of the economies of the world that we would affect - not to mention what happens to my own little family - if our economy flushes. I mean, Israel's ecomony is based on the value of our dollar, and if we have no money then China goes belly up as far as imports go... it's going to harm the entire world eventually. Not to mention that husband is starting a new job on Monday, and I'd sure hate to see him get laid off if and when the economy goes South.

That said, there is such a thing as slowing down to plan this correctly. Lend them the money, but make them pay it back! We cannot continue to socialize all this loss unless we socialize the gain, and none of us really want that. We like Capitalism... so let's protect it. There is nothing wrong with going after such CEO's for breaking the law, either. You know that there were improprieties being committed - find them and punish them. The Govt is going to have to get involved, but lets use that as a fix, instead of a bailout.

tz said...

amen dodi...i know the bail out is needed...my beef is more w/ the execs getting away with it and w/ trying to be forced to make decisions quickly...
they should have to pay it back w/ interest....

crc...i guess it's everywhere that keeping up w/ the joneses

Sitting In Silence said...

Great rant....you sure hit the nail on the head...

Sid said...

I don't understand it either. Where did the money just disappear to? And are the executives of the comapnies suffering from poverty?

Ken said...

I also don't get why fired exec's get tens of million in severance. Why should they be rewarded for running the company into the ground?