Son: "Mom can I have a $1200 dollars to go buy a flat screen TV for my room?"
Mom: "That's funny."
Son: "I'm serious. I really want one."
Mom: "I'm serious too. No. Even if we could afford it, which we can't, you still couldn't have one."
Son: "Fine."
"Dad, can I use your credit card to get a flat screen TV for my room?"
Dad: "Sure son. I don't know how were going to be able to pay off that card anyway."
Son: "Thanks Dad, you're the greatest."
Politicians: "Can we borrow against our great-grand children's future to bail out a bunch of companies that have given us a lot of money and then hold no one to blame?"
American People: "That's funny."
Politicians: We're serious. We really want to."
American People: We're serious too. No. Even if we could afford it, which we can't, you still couldn't bail them out."
Politicians: "Fine."
"Federal Reserve, can we bail out a bunch of companies that have given us a lot of money and then hold no one to blame? Oh, and we have no idea how or if it will be paid back."
Federal Reserve: "Sure and we'll print-up a bunch of cash to infuse into the Wall Street to boot. Let's face it there's no way can ever pay off all our debts any way."
Politicians: "Thanks Ben, you're the greatest. Got to go now. We have to get back and pass laws to "fix" the problem. We're going to be heroes."
Call me cynical but I get it. We're being told by the very people who got us into this financial mess that they are the only ones who can get us out. It's kind of like having some one stab you in the gut with a knife. They then state they didn't do it and that they are the only ones who can remove the knife, which they do. The only problem is, they don't stop the bleeding.
Follow the money. After all, it's yours to begin with.
4 comments:
Maybe if we treat more companies like Lehman, the greedy bastards will start learning their lessons. It is fine to make a profit, get rich, and have lots of stuff, but you need to do it in a manner that will not cause you to implode a business that has existed for well over 100 years.
My humble opinion.
I don't want to wait 100 years. Can I just get rich and destroy a company now?
Well, if you insist, but you have to promise to get me out of debt since you're making all that money. Your wife will be okay with that, right? Consider it a charitable donation.
I think a lot of lawmakers would like to punish the financial institutions, but there was a shift after HSBC (Hong-Kong Shanghai Banking Corp) expressed interest in buying Morgan Stanley. Curiously, the next day, the news reported that they had no interest in Morgan Stanley after all. What happened? The government probably stepped in. A few days later, the bailout proposal was announced - $700 billion gives them enough to outbid any foreign financial institution. So I think it's not just about saving the economy, but saving ourselves from becoming a minority shareholder in our own economy. Either way, Wall Street really screwed us.
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