Bail ME Out!

[ This entry is my contribution to the Rice Bowl Journals Collaboration Project for September ]

As I look at my little coin collection of pennies, nickels and dimes, I’m thinking…

So, our own government is planning to bail out those big investment banking firms to the tune of $700 billion dollars, maybe more.

What’s wrong with that picture?

These are big corporations and businesses whose questionable lending and investment practices are currently under much suspicion and speculation, whose CEO’s are still making multi-million dollar salaries… while the American taxpayer is going to lose in two specific ways:

1. A reduction in the equity of one’s home, reduction in 401K plan and other personal investments.

2. Is going to have to foot the bill in bailing out these big corporations.

Surely, homeowners out there who, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t be able to afford a mortgage loan, had gotten themselves into trouble by defaulting or foreclosing on their mortgage loans. But, do you blame them or those lending companies (far more knowledgeable than the average lay person) who set up this whole sub-prime mortgage lending scam in the first place?

Can we say, “mortgage fraud”?

I think what we have here is a clear case of “predatory lending” practices that have gotten so out-of-hand that eventually it has taken its toll on the U.S. economy.

So the U.S. Government is getting ready to bail out the big giants of Wall Street in a last ditch effort to stop the impending doom which I would call The Great Depression 2.0.

The small businesses are suffering too!

Why not bail out the small business owners like myself who are struggling just as badly because of this economic crisis? Surely, I wouldn’t need several billion dollars for a bail out. I would just need a few hundred thousand dollars, maybe even less, to keep my small business going.

So…

Why not bail out us little folk as well?

Update: Today I watched C-Span and the Senate was emphasizing that the money going toward the bailout will be coming from the Federal Reserve, not really from the taxpayers pockets. At least that’s what I understood that to be, and that the American people can actually benefit once the big investment firms are back on their feet and the economy starts moving again.

But feel free to let me know what you think, or if you heard different….