I used to play Monopoly with someone who liked to play a side game. He would hide money under his part of the board to appear poor, then pull it out to purchase houses and hotels. He always wanted to quit when he was ahead.
Sometimes he bought too much property and couldn't afford to keep it. Put a bunch of hotels on Park Place but nobody landed on it. Sometimes he had a bad run of luck and after mortgaging everything would still be unable to pay the fees to keep going. He would beg for a loan. I would give in. Sometimes that was all he needed to turn things around and beat me. Other times he would lose that loan and beg for more. I seldom came out ahead. I stopped playing the game with him when I needed a loan under similar circumstances and he refused.
Over the years I've played the game and realized that most people would not have helped him out. It just skewed the results of the game and defeated the purpose.
Today it's not just a board game, it's real life. The folks in Washington and on Wall Street are trying to frighten the American people into agreeing to what they want. They are counting on the fact that most people understand very little about economics. And that most people don't realize the economists don't necessarily KNOW the answers either. They just have theories.
They know that the words 'Great Depression' terrify most Americans. The threat of lost jobs, higher prices, more foreclosures,and a reduced standard of living is worthy of fear. Since most Americans have been experiencing some or all of these things already, perhaps THEY are the ones about to face the same thing. In other words, we have already been dealing with the crisis that they created. The attitude was 'oh well, that's the breaks of the game'. But now they, the rich people, need our help.
Their argument seems to be: If we don't help them keep their jobs, houses and income----woe is us. Because we'll all go down together. We need them to save ourselves.
For the purposes of this article, I define the 'rich' that must be held accountable as:
Those that milked the system and profited off speculation to the point that oil prices were driven so high. The folks took golden parachutes from companies that then were left teetering financially. Those that made sub-prime mortgage loans and profited from them. Those that are using fear to keep their 'system' afloat.
These are the folks who unraveled the protections that were put into place after the Depression. Their free market theories and de-regulatory plans created the new crisis. They wanted 'no limits' on their incomes and practices. They wanted freedom to milk the system. And they did. Now they want you and me, our children, our grandchildren and probably their children to pay to fix this mess. And then give them money to try again!
I say there are no 'do overs' for them. Instead, they need to take responsibility for perpetuating a system that failed. For feeling that they were 'entitled' to bankrupt our economy.
We need to ask, "where is this money coming from?" The taxpayers will eventually be stuck with the bill, but in the meantime, who is going to offer that side loan? We are already in debt over our heads to China, Saudi Arabia, and so many other countries. If we need to borrow more, especially these staggering amounts, what will be left of America's independence?
Just like the Monopoly game analogy, when you lend money to cheaters, you never come out ahead.