I just got off the phone with a medical collection agency, having satisfied a $60 debt for medication that actually made me feel worse than I did prior to treatment. Another medical bill for $200, another medical bill for $130... it never ends.
I make a decent living, doing PR and writing. I freelance occasionally to beef up my earnings. My fiance makes a good living as well. We aren't struggling.
Yet I'm fearful. It seems at every turn, there is another handover of my tax dollars to a corporation or bank where the worst paid employees still make twice as much as my household's combined income. What if something happens and I need that money back? No one's going to bail me out.
Sure, if we let the Big Three fail, thousands lose their jobs. There's an incentive for a bailout.
What if AIG fails? Some big money execs miss out on a spa vacation. Boo freakin' hoo. We should've let that one go down with the ship.
Today, an additional $25 billion was injected into Citi Group by the U.S. government. I understand the global repercussions of Citi Group failing would've been disasterous. But just consider, for a moment, if that $25 billion had been distributed equally amongst all the public schools in the country. What new programs could be created? Which amazing teachers could be rewarded for their extra investment of time and patience into their students (the average salary of a public school teacher is $50K, per Salary.com)? What better, healthier cafeteria food could be provided?
Or imagine, if any of you are like me with the medical debt, if $25 billion was split equally among all of us, but must be used to pay off debt (medical or educational). Imagine if you suddenly had no more monthly installments to pay off that student loan. Or if the collection agencies suddenly stopped calling because your tax dollars had satisfied your debts for you.
No. Our tax dollars are satisfying the debts and mismanagement of corporations. Now the Wall Street execs (who view bonuses as something to which they are entitled instead of what they should be--an honor) will have a happy holiday season, at our cost. How wonderful!
During the election, Republicans called me a socialist simply for supporting Barack Obama. I argued that I was a capitalist. But lately, I've been thinking that a country should first take care of its suffering, its weak, its sick. Then its wealthy (who can take care of themselves).
The Department of Veteran Affairs estimates that more than 154,000 American veterans are homeless. Whose bailing them out? They put their lives on the lines for our country, and we tossed them out into the cold.
Perhaps bailouts aren't what we need. Perhaps a little compassion would do the trick.