Bailout Bollocks!

Seriously, what’s up with all this bailout talk for the motor industry eh? Oh, woe is me! I’m going bankrupt! Help me! Because if you don’t, so many people are going to lose their jobs and the economy will get worse! You helped the banks and insurance giants, now help us!

I get the “impact” that this will have on the economy. If these industries go down, everything spirals downward and the little people will suffer too. So you MUST help us, to help others! This is altruistic and necessary!

The next thing you will hear is that Starbucks needs a bailout too because with so many people jobless, there aren’t enough executives buying a cuppa latte in the morning. And what happens if you don’t help Starbucks – the LARGEST coffeehouse in the world? Well, calamity! Because 15,000 stores in 44 countries will close and thousands of employees will be out of work! Those poor farmers providing us with “freetrade coffeebeans” will have no one to sell their produce to! You HAVE to save us!

Well, bollocks, I say. Let’s look at this on a micro-level then. Have every INDIVIDUAL who has gone bankrupt/is going bankrupt storm to the government buildings and demand that the government bail them out too. Have all the employees who have lost their jobs go up to the government and tell them you need a bailout too, because otherwise your family will be impacted. There is going to be a spiral effect too — if you don’t bail me out, my family will be without a breadwinner and my kids can’t go to school and we can’t feed ourselves! Have every cafe owner and mama shopkeeper go to the government, and tell them that you need a bailout because otherwise, how are people going to get their news?! People will become uneducated! There’s going to be a spiral effect!

Bollocks! Go get your CEOs and big execs to reach into their Swiss bank accounts and bring out the millions. When you make profits, you keep your earnings, buy a plane/yatch/porsche/beachfront home in Miami and when you make a loss, you go crying to someone else for help? Take some personal responsibility! For all the bailout requests, I don’t remember hearing a single apology for poor decisions made by someone sitting up in their high and mighty throne.

“The executives defended themselves before the Senate on Tuesday, saying that the cause of their misfortunes was not management mistakes, but the weak economy and the inability of consumers to obtain credit to buy cars.” (New York Times, 19th Nov 2008)

Bollocks!!!

You want to help? Distribute all the millions to individual families and have them all spend that amount on a new car. That will ‘boost’ the motor industry, wouldn’t it? Increased spending! Consumer confidence! The industry gets saved! And every family gets a new car!!

Articles to read:
The New York Times: What’s the Value of a Big Bonus?
The Age: Bosses Go Begging But Keep Silver Spoons