I’m not sure what to think about the federal bail-outs of wall-street failures. We have a free-market economy; yet, the government is stepping in to rescue companies for the greater good of the American people. Ok, I can accept that; but, there are two things bothering me about this…
1. The companies who are falling apart are doing so because of poor business planning and decisions they made to deceive the public in order to make a profit. They gave sub-prime mortgages to people who clearly couldn’t afford to pay them. Their reps made the home buyers believe they could, and approved them with very little credit or background checking. This was a terrible thing to do to people! Then, they turned around and sold these mortgages as securities. People actually bought these ill-founded securities, and now look what’s happened! In my opinion, they did it to themselves! Still, with so many people affected, it’d be a shame not to help them!
2. A natural disaster (aka an Act of God) has struck again. We have a devastated coast-line in Texas due to a massive hurricane strike. The people of New Orleans have still not finished rebuilding their lives, and now this! So, what do we do? Almost nothing! Yes, they evacuated people, rescued people, sent SOME ice and SOME trailers; but, it isn’t enough! We just gave $85 billion dollars to a company who made poor decisions; but, we are not sufficiently helping those whose lives were destroyed by a hurricane. Yes, they chose to live on the coast; but, maybe that’s where their families grew up and good jobs and schools were!
This leaves me very conflicted and uncomfortable. It makes me truly upset!