So, the government, that is, the taxpayer — you and I, are going to bail out the American financial industry because they’ve made poor decisions while running their businesses. In addition, it also looks as if we’re going to bail out the American auto industry as well. This is definitely in the hundreds of billions of dollars and will very likely run into the trillions.
Okay, capitalism without risk for the big boys. Nice, but not surprising. It’s really just another (although blatant and very public) example of corporate welfare in this country. It’s not the single crack mothers on public assistance that are the financial burden — it’s corporate America!
Now, the pundits and politicians say that we must provide financial incentive to these industries (let’s not forget the insurance industry here either — AIG has received two nice checks already) in order to keep main-street above water. Okay. I’ll agree with that as long as there’s a qualifier. It’s needed to keep main-street above the same ol’ water.
Now, my big gripe with this post isn’t really targeted at the idea of bailouts to these institutions; rather, it is meant to ask a question. Why is it that we can send hundreds of billions of dollars to corporate America (who shot themselves in their own greedy proverbial foot) yet we (the government) can not (will not) provide direct cheap student loans to help produce productive American citizens who will help guarantee America’s future in the continuing and ever-increasingly competitive global market/economy?
People who don’t know any better think that a guaranteed student loan (GSL, Stafford loan) is a loan offered to the student by the government. Nope. The loan is given by a private institution and a guarantee is then provided to the private institution by the government that the loan will be repaid. Thanks, Uncle Sam! Again, we have risk-free capitalism at work for the lending institution will make their money back (plus a profit) no matter what happens. The student gets a PhD in underwater basket-weaving but can only find a job a McDonalds. That’s ok. The government will garnish his wages for what they can and then the taxpayer will make up the rest — to give a guaranteed profit to the bank. Nice.
If America truly cared about its future, if America really believed that the children are the future, if America really was what it claims to be…things would be much different. And much better — not just for America but for the rest of the world as well.
Two thoughts: 1) America as a nation is right of center, and this most certainly includes the upcoming Obama administration. Obama is no Marxist, Socialist, or Communist — he is right of center as well. 2) America can be summed up (in one way) as a greed-based system which rewards all the “wrong” behaviors.