Now that the taxpayer bailout of Wall Street has been thrust upon us, it’s time to begin asking, “Will the bailout even work?” And yes, it is a bailout. While some con artists and other unscrupulous people took advantage of the lax regulation of the housing industry, the vast majority of bad loans were generated by the banks themselves. Anyone who has a mortgage can attest to this, as we were inundated with offer after offer to refinance, get credit lines on equity, consolidate loans, or otherwise dispose of any value we’ve accrued in our homes. The banks and lending institutions have no one but themselves to blame for their excessive greed, and the government has no one to blame but themselves for relaxing or eliminating the regulations that protected us from rampant predatory lending. That the burden should be bore by the United States taxpayers is one of the biggest two-faced, double standard ploys ever foiced upon the public. Ever.
You might not realize that, but you undoubtedly sense it, as most Americans did when congress’ mailrooms and email inboxes were suddenly crammed with angry complaints at a rate of 9 to 1 against the bailout. All we have to do is look at the greater regulation against personal bailout options and the practices of the credit industry in legal, modern day slave trade to understand why.
In other words, it’s virtually impossible for anyone to get themselves out of debt now that personal bankruptcy laws have all but been denied to the majority of citizens. If we get ourselves into trouble, it’s our responsibility to deal with it, no matter the hardship or suffering. Anyone caught in the credit trap will tell you that they most definitely feel like slaves to their creditors, and if you take away the massive losses due to the housing crises, the credit industry is still the most lucrative industry in America. And banks and other financial institutions buy and sell that credit (our lives basically) like chattel. This is very much akin to modern day slavery, or at least indentured servitude. So is it any wonder that we are angry about bailing out the same institutions that have artfully ruined so many lives and placed many of us in personal financial hardship that we have to deal with on our own?
What makes the whole scenario worse is that our national economy’s well-being has now become completely reliant upon currency and wealth that doesn’t even exist. Credit is nothing more than taking a gamble on the future, which is simply idiotic when you think about it. We cannot predict the future. Yes, we can look at the odds and calculate a rationale for using credit, but there’s still risk involved. And when you consider the shift of our economy away from manufacturing to consumerism (credit), the full absurdity finally hits home.
Our country’s economy is based upon non-existent money credit. As long as our stock market is based upon credit, it is a formula that will ultimately fail. It’s time to reign in credit, invest money into businesses that provide products and services that have world wide demand, and focus our stock market back to manufacturing. If we don’t, prepare yourselves for round two of the financial crisis, as the credit generated from charge cards turns into bad debt, just like the housing market, and it all comes crashing down.
