To Bailout Or Not To Bailout...That Is The Question

AIG--$152,500,000,000 (152.5 billion dollars)

Citigroup--$20,000,000,000 (20 billion dollars) plus a U. S. Government guarantee on $306,000,000,000 (306 billion dollars) worth of "toxic assets."

Now, the big three automakers (Ford, GM and Chrysler) have their hands out looking for a combined $34,000,000,000 (34 billion dollars) bailout, courtesy of YOU, the American taxpayer!

Our representatives and senators in Congress have already OK'd the AIG and Citigroup bailout. For better or worse, that money is gone, or at least committed and will soon be gone. However, that is not the case with the auto bailout....not yet, anyway.

The aforementioned members of Congress, who vote on these matters, are supposed to be YOUR representatives in the government. You voted them into their office and they are SUPPOSED to represent YOUR interests and be YOUR voice for how YOUR tax dollars are being spent. That is how a representive government is SUPPOSED to work. BUT IS IT???

A CNN News poll released today states that 70% of the respondents feel that it is unfair to the taxpayers of the United States to give a bailout to the automakers. 61% stated that they are flat out opposed to this bailout. So, between 60 and 70 of every 100 citizens are not in favor of a bailout for the big three automakers.

So now, YOUR representatives and YOUR senators, the men and women that YOU elected to represent your wishes, have to decide whom they will represent. Will they bow to the pressure of the big labor unions and big business interests, who want this bailout to make up for their own greed and their mistakes OR will they keep faith with the people who elected them, THE TAXPAYERS, and vote according to the majority of them.

Now is the time for you, the citizen, to contact your representatives in Congress and let them know how YOU feel about the spending of YOUR tax dollars on these continuing bailouts!

CALL CONGRESS TODAY! MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

B.O. (bailout)--America's New Stink

If you read my earlier entry of today, you already know how I feel about the AIG bailout. America has started down a long and slippery slope which can only end in bankruptcy all round. We have already bailed out AIG, and they have sure made the most of it, haven't they?? A couple of junkets to luxury resorts that most of us will never be able to afford, and now a proposed $500 million to pay its top management (the ones who screwed up in the first place) in advance so that they will not leave the company! Is America a great country or what?!?!?!

NOTE: For any reader who doesn't realize it at this point, the above is sarcasm. The whole AIG affair, in this blogger's opinion, is one giant BCS (Big Crock of Shit, not Bowl Championship Series, although I think the BCS is also a BCS!)

So, here we are. Lehman Bros. does not get a bailout, but AIG does. Who made that decision? What was the basis of that decision? What will any future bailouts be based on and who will make those rules? WHERE WILL IT ALL STOP?!?!

If we bail out GM, what about Ford and Chrysler? If we bail out the auto industry in general, what about the steel industry, the coal industry, food service, hospitals and medical care, etc., etc., etc.? I heard on the news while driving today that Congress is now, or will soon be, receiving bailout requests from cities and states. Starbucks profits are way down? Are we going to bail them out or risk doing without our Venti White Mocha Latte?!?! Can America survive THAT?!?!

We live in, or are supposed to live in, a free market society, where every company, big or small, can succeed and be profitable or fail and be replaced by a better company. I run a company with 65 employees. If my company would ever go under, 65 people would have to find another job, including me. But the government would not ever think of bailing out my company, nor should they. But, if General Motors or Ford or AIG or Starbucks can't compete successfully, then they too should be kicked to the curb and another company will fill their spot. Too bad, how sad!!

However, as a final thought, I offer this information. I am a small business owner, as I stated earlier. I, and thousands more like me, provide 80% of the employment in this country. If the government really wants to get some "bang for their buck" in the bailout department, take the several trillion dollars and distribute it to these businessmen as low interest loans. Those business people, who are used to working and producing a profit, will expand the economy and produce new products and services, increasing employment, and pay the money back to the government. That would leave our economy a hell of a lot stronger than flushing the money down the industrial toilet by giving it to people and businesses who have already proved that they can't make a profit.

By the way, if anyone in the government wants to bail me out, it will only take about $200,000.00, and I won't even take a luxury junket!! WHAT A BARGAIN!!