Government bail-out a horrible idea!

Am I one of the only ones who can’t seem to understand why there is so much discussion about a government bail-out of these failed banks and mortgage lenders and mortgage owners? I truly thought this would be over and done with pretty quickly, and that the politicians would slam it out as a nice thought, but stupid idea.

As I’ve said here before, without cable or satellite, we miss a lot of the “hot” news. Of course, most of it we’re not interested in anyway. When I first caught wind that the debates (which took place right here in Oxford) might be cancelled last Wednesday, I had to ask why? Then, when I learned Pres. Bush had proposed some bail-out bill, I got online to do some searching. Now I’ll admit to you right here and now that I didn’t read everything I found top to bottom. I did a lot of skimming…but read enough to know I didn’t like it.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out why politicians continue to want to turn our government/country into one big nanny-state. The Founding Fathers would be calling for revolution were they still alive. Why oh why should taxpayers be required to pay for the failures of others?

I bought a house (we’re currently in our 3^rd), I knew what I was getting into. I lost a job while paying the mortgage on our second (plus, it took us a YEAR to sell it). But I worked with my bank and I didn’t get behind in payments. However, my family does without a lot of “things” that many others get. No, I’m not complaining about that…but I am complaining that the government wants to give money to people who weren’t smart enough to manage their money—14 different cell phones, cable and satellite, four-wheelers, but can’t pay their mortgage. I’m sorry for them, but MY tax money shouldn’t be used to make up for their bad mistakes. And don’t get me going on bankruptcies—I’m one of the ones glad to see them become harder to get. People (and businesses!) should be responsible for their actions.

Further, why oh why does the government want to use MY tax money to bail out a company whose CEOs make in excess of millions of dollars a year? If the companies are stupid enough to pay someone that much money, then let them go out of business. Better yet, make all the CEOs return 2 ½ million dollars they received last year—heck, let them keep 200k, which is still probably five times the rate of the average employee for their company and then give the rest back to help bail out the company. When the small mom and pop company overextends, the government doesn’t come bail them out. They either figure out how to make it work, or they go out of business. It should be the same for these big mortgage companies and banks. Don’t ask the overwhelming majority of Americans who DO responsibly manage their money to pay for the terrible mismanagement of others.

It’s just crazy.