There are some disquieting facts that might lead most folks to pause and think:
No one seems sure what to call the economic package:
Is it, “stimulus”; “bailout”; “job creation”; “economic equalization” or “pork” or what?
Perhaps we don’t know what to call it because no one really knows who wrote it.
And no one who voted for it actually read it.
And no one knows who all will actually get it.
It all could be pretty confusing. But we can “unconfuse” it:
No matter who wrote it, who read it, or who gets it – whether banks, auto companies or mortgage holders get it, there are two uncontestable facts:
1) The government that was responsible for the laws and poor oversight that caused the problem is now the government trusted to fix it. (Sort of like paying the guy who took a sledge-hammer to the piano to tune it.)
2) One way or another, all the people who made bad decisions are going to be paid back by all the people who made good decisions.
Those two facts are incontestable.
This flies in the face of:
1) Character development
2) Common sense
3) Run-of-the-mill values of personal responsibility and acceptance of consequences.
I just read that a treasury policy maker noted, derisively, that the folks (like me) who are concerned about the above issues are “just are interested in adhering to some principles rather than ‘fixing the problem’ in this time of emergency.” That statement was the impetus for this note.
After working with people in out of personal and professional difficulties for the past 35 years:
When principle is abandoned for the sake of expediency, it never works.
Ultimately all that counts is principle, values, and common sense. Every time those three are lost, the situation is lost.
