Every political pundit out there seems to be wringing the taxpayers hands over the taxpayers being stuck with the bill for these bailouts. Who caused these mortgage problems in the first place? Yes, we can blame the unscrupulous mortgage lenders, the speculators, the regulators et all; but is it entirely their fault? How about that homeowner wannabe that wanted to buy a house that was over his head? How about refinancing that mortgage so we could pay off our excesses on the credit card? How about that refinance that turns our home loan upside down to the value of our home?
To answer those questions, we need to go no further than our bathroom mirror. Yes, us Americans can turn that finger right back on ourselves. We have lived in this “buy now, pay later” , “rob Peter to pay Paul” mentality since the dotcoms took off in the early 90’s. It is now coming home to roost and it is making our nest a stinky and messy one. So is it a pox on us taxpayers to bail out these guys who made the bad loans or is it our just desserts? Is this our responsibility or is there some big, bad, cheater and liar out there that justifies our wrath?
How about the government. Aren’t they of and by the people? Aren’t we the citizens that elect the same old same old over and over and blindly believe the same lies told election year after election year? Don’t we sit by our TV sets at night and cheer for our left or right leaning hacks describe what some republican congressman or some democrat senator throws up as “a matter of fact” or better yet “the fact of the matter is” biased view. All this huffing and puffing, tooting and hooting, ying and yang serves only one among us: television ratings.
We as taxpayers and voters have the greatest stake in this of all. It is our country and our way of life. We have sold our morals and values down the river. It’s OK to steal your neighbors newspaper or leave the 14 outfits you tried on in the dressing room on the floor. It’s OK to cut someone off in traffic because they are driving too slow (just might be your teenage daughter learning how to drive or your grandma). Who really gets hurt if we send in our dead husband’s ballot, we know how it would have wanted to vote anyway.
The only crime here is the political hacks that want to raise our taxes to pay off our own debt. I say let’s lower taxes and let John Q. Public stimulate our economy back to it’s once proud state. We made this mess, give us the chance to fix it. Otherwise, we will continue to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.