This is one that I've agonized over for quite some time, but I finally decided that I have to say it. I have to get it off my chest. Being a new small business owner, I am incredibly... well, ticked off.. that my tax payer dollars are now going to go to bail out the major car manufacturers.. or at least that is what the government wants, if they can ever get on the same page.
Here's the deal. We're starting out own business right now. If we fail because we fail to keep pace with the industry, who will bail us out? I don't think we'll be getting any money from the government. Although, I guess the government would understand the clunky bureaucracy that is the American auto maker better than anyone else. I also understand that the industry does employ millions of people. I get that. Don't think I don't. My problem is that, why are we bailing out people who have simply made bad business decisions, not once, but repeatedly, and for years and years? Why are we doing it? Who is going to bail us out?
Okay, I realize that there are people out there now making $30,000 a year who bought $700,000 homes who are happy they are getting bailed out of a "bad mortgage", or that there is hope for that in their future. To those people, I say the same thing... "What were you THINKING?!?!!??!?!"
Our society took a terrible turn when adults became no longer responsible for their own decisions. If I put a hot cup of coffee in my lap, I take that assumption of risk that I may get burned. But no, it's McDonald's fault for selling me hot coffee. Of course, if it wasn't hot, I would drive back through the drive thru and tell them I would not pay for it.... you get my idea.
So, Big Auto has decided to still make cars that are not as efficient as they should be, and keep unproductive overhead, and... I could go on and on, but it makes me sick. They saw this coming! They were not blind-sided by the fact that an economic downturn of any size could render them bankrupt. Have we not been through this before? I think we've been close.
All I'm saying is that we are bailing out the wrong people. We truly are. Those of us who are paying our bills and barely scraping by are the people who are bailing out the wrong people, by the way. I just thought I'd mention that, so maybe some other people will get as ticked off about it as I am. I won't get political here, because that only serves to heat a discussion along party lines, and that is not the purpose of this rant. The purpose is... no one guaranteed me that my business would succeed. No one said that if it didn't, they'd give me money until it did. At no time did anyone say, "You know what, you've made a butt pile of money in the past, but you didn't change with the times while others did, so, guess what? You get a Mulligan! Conrgatulations for being an ineffective, bureaucratic piece of crap with more middle management than the population of some small countries! Way to streamline, Folks!"
I thought I had calmed down enough about this to write about it, but now, thinking about it brings it all back up and I think I should quit for now. :-) Just some food for thought. Crap.. I can't end this without saying... now that the Dems have run both houses for the last two years... and now that we have a Dem President... well, that should all change, right? Ah well. What do I know? I'm just some dumb kid from nowhere who likes to sit around and be cynical about the world. Gravity affects me, Economics does not... I'm still broke, so no big deal!
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