Don't Give Us The Money!

There have been times when I've felt like Calvin. Oddly enough, though, this is not one of them. Let me explain. In recent days, stories of bailouts have been popping up in newspapers around the world [not that I read newspapers from around the world; frankly, anything not in English would be difficult. Get away from the so-called "Romance" languages, and I'd be totally lost. As I sometimes am in English]. It seems like every nation with the economic wherewithal to prop up an industry or two is doing just that. Here in the U-S-of-A, the Government has committed hundreds of billions of dollars [a figure I can barely comprehend] in an attempt to keep the financial marketplace standing. Meanwhile, military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan [comparative bargains, at roughly a billion dollars a month] continue, with little or no discussion as to an end-date, except for a few Presidential candidates. Let's put this in perspective. On January 20, 2001, George W. Bush sat atop a comfortable budget surplus. In eight years, his administration, aided and abetted by, among others, Congress, the Judiciary, and those people who voted for him in 2004 after seeing how the previous years had gone, drained the surplus and left a crushing debt for our children, grandchildren, and probably great-grandchildren to pay off. And these are the "fiscal conservatives"!

Anyway, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is floating a modest 1.4 Billion dollar plan to pump some money into the economy. Much of it would go into social service programs, but there is apparently some talk of another "economic stimulus" check for most Americans. Don't get me wrong; The Woman I Love and I made [mostly] good use of the free cash earlier this year. But I think of the unborn generations that are already set to be gob-smacked, and I don't know how I feel. I mean, the social service aid part of the plan should be carried out, if possible. But more "money for nothing"? I dunno. Besides, the last round of checks was supposed to encourage us to spend, right? I don't know about you, but most of our money went into paying bills. (Not that there's anything wrong with that)

So, talk it out among yourselves, but perhaps this isn't the best time for a free handful of cash [of course, if I owned Wal*Mart stock, I'd be screaming for the handout].

-This is just me, of course,

Mike Riley