Bailout Blues

I think that my fundamental problem with the bailout is this:

Joe Wall Street is screaming "FIRE FIRE!" and saying we need $700 billion to bailout and save the financial system "for the good of all Americans."

That comes out to an average of $2200 for every man, woman, and child in America.

So try explaining to a poor family of four in rural Tennessee, or a poor family of four in Compton, CA why they should be paying $10,000 of their tax money to save the "system"...

They don't have any Wall Street investments. No 401K. No money market account. No real savings to speak of. They work a minimum wage job and live paycheck to paycheck. They cant get small business or home loans, so a frozen credit system means nothing to them.

...and they are expected to do this for the good of the financial system, when in all likelihood, it wont affect them in any substantial way. Or to put it another way -- to save a financial system that is never going to make them rich.

But tell one of those Joe Wall Streets why they should chip in an extra $500 per year so that those same poor families (and millions more) can have healthcare when they are sick, and they don't want to hear a word of it.

They say "Why should i do something that wont directly help me? The medical system is fine as is." (Of course it is when you can afford it.) And healthcare is just for an example.

Bottom line. They are screaming for help from the same people they refuse it to on a constant basis.