Risk for Thee, But Not for Me
I failed to consider this when I heard the news... but, now that I have, it pisses me off.
Has your corporation acted recklessly? Has this corporation habitually made appallingly stupid decisions? No worries. Government is here for you.
The feds will rescue anyone, it seems, except those suckers who dutifully mail their mortgage checks in on time every month.
These reliable citizens, in fact, soon will be propping up the for-profit businesses of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (not to mention Bear Stearns) in the de facto nationalization of a huge chunk of the mortgage industry.
Stockholders of Fannie and Freddie, for decades, have profited from an implicit taxpayer guarantee on their business, while pretending that such a pledge didn't exist.
Well, it does. We know this because as a reward for a feeble job done, executives may walk away with $15 million in severance pay.
You? The bailout allegedly will cost taxpayers approximately $200 billion. And, as you know, federal projections are always on target.
And where will it end? Airlines already have benefited from the largesse. Detroit's auto industry, it has been reported, hopes to secure $50 billion in additional federal loans to, you know, help out.
And this isn't a move made by any specific party. If the housing crisis was like this during any democrat's administration, the same damn thing would happen. This pisses the Libertarian in me off to no end.
Isn't it ironic that government bars a citizen from risking his own Social Security funds because it's too chancy, yet it uses your money to bail out companies that have engaged in the very behavior government is supposedly safeguarding us from?
And really, what's more risky than letting Washington handle your money?