The government ATM?

While I am not opposed to government intervention in the private financial sector, I have to say that I am dismayed by the extent of what is happening. The Big 3 automakers are still trying to get government money for fixing problems caused by their lack of making fundamental long term changes YEARS ago. Now Citicorp wants $20B to fix their problems, caused by giving loans and credit cards to anyone that could fog a mirror. The Big 3 had plenty of opportunity to take tax savings by making vehicles that were more fuel efficient or that used alternative energy, but decided that it was cheaper and better for their bottom line not to do so. Citicorp could have withheld credit from those that were never truly qualified to recieve it, but wanted those fat fees. As long as someone else was willing to buy the loans and accounts, they were good and could play "hot potato".

So now that these companies have taken as much as they can from the public and the well has run dry, they look to the government to give them money. Will they use the money to fix their long term problems, or will they stick a band aid on what is hemorrhaging and go back to business as usual? Given their track record, I'd be willing to bet it is the latter. But that is not the thing that makes me the most angry.

Since when do you or I get to make catastrophically bad business decisions and get a government handout to fix it? We have to declare bankruptcy and take all of the negative consequences that go along with it when we fail. Yet again, big business is getting special consideration that none of us would receive. Since when is a corporation an entity with inalienable rights that is more worthy than you or I? Corporations do not pay their fair share in taxes and support the public sector- they pay a huge staff of people to make sure they don't by writing off as much as possible; a staff of people that we can't afford to duplicate. They reward their leadership with huge bonus plans for making bad decisions and then moving on quietly to the next corporate "chump". Their leadership continues to live their lifestyles as though nothing is wrong, not taking pay cuts or making sacrifices like any struggling small sole proprietorship owner would have to.

We are already in economic crisis; that is not going to change overnight and we are already in pain. Let's use this opportunity to hold corporate America accountable in the way we are held accountable. If they can't handle their business properly, then they go under like the rest of us would. Maybe then, when they are held accountable in the only way they understand- the way of the balance sheet, they may learn that they are not above the law and above the rest of the society that keeps them in business.