Spend and Tax Spend and Tax Spend and Tax

I will never again complain when I see six guys standing around watching one guy fix a hole in the street. At least, you can see them. They’re not hiding anything. But, hey, what about those bankers? Those financial titans?

Just like the guys in the street, they are now receiving taxpayer dollars, but the amounts we have given them, in the ongoing bailout, is more than shameful; it should be illegal. What’s shameful are politicians, who write bailout bills that don’t mandate, require, and legally limit the money the bankers are able to put in their pockets.

I won’t go into the incredibly obscene amounts they’ve made off with in the last twenty years. Then, it was clients and shareholders who were willing to pay them. But now, it’s our money. Taxpayers, well off and near-destitute. People who have lost their jobs and, perhaps, their houses.

Business practices, non-existent ethics, and greed are the precipitating factors in this financial meltdown. These emperors of Wall Street still had clothes, until the house of cards they were playing with finally collapsed. A house that had been held up by a belief and faith in the system and their professionalism.

Now, we are desperate and want someone to fix it. It is thought that only these financial wizards have the knowledge to do this. Naively, we believe that their sense of responsibility and the obvious reality of their failure will cause them to work hard to bring this about.

Unfortunately, they have traveled far beyond responsibility and any concern other than their own interest. They see only the next step in their journey. The step that has them directing their abilities to seize the opportunities these billions of tax dollars create. To them, this is an unexpected dividend.

To be fair, these guys have families. They are not inhuman. They simply don’t care about anyone else. They have shed the skins of shame, compassion, and responsibility. It seems our government representatives have also. Obama has given us hope, but who will help him act?