Bailout Blues

By sowing frugality we reap liberty,
a golden harvest
--Agesilaus

If you lose your money, great God,
don't lose your mind
--"Blind Willie" Reynolds

That ain't workin', that's the way you do it
Money for nothin' and chicks for free
--Money for Nothing, Dire Straits
___________

Bailout used to be something done by pilots after fighting a good fight. Now it is a given to any screw up.

This is flying by the seat of our pants. These bailout pilots are held aloft by the taxpayer's golden parachute, and so accustomed are we to being screwed, we apathetically accept our fate. What happened to "a penny saved is a penny earned," and good old Yankee Thrift?

What about the lessons of piggy banks and chores and small passbook savings accounts -- where did we go wrong? Ranger doesn't know fuck-all about economics and as such is on par with other good Americans like John McCain, but he'll wallow around like the best of them.

It is wrong-headed to throw money at bankrupt, improperly managed organizations. If Ranger were on the brink of bankruptcy, would a financial planner advocate large infusions of cash to solve my problem? Spending more money that you do not have is not the remedy to spending too much money, money that was not even yours from the get-go.

The U.S. threw money at Afghanistan and Iraq in the same pell-mell fashion. No master plan, no responsibility or accountability was forced upon the recipients at any level. Throwing money willy-nilly is like pissing up a rope.

Now the Fed will print money as the panacea, but this will not eviscerate the rot, only paper over it. As Seeking Alpha nicely explains, "This new issuance of paper, not only backed by nothing, but twice nothing, will elbow its way into the already fetid air being pumped into the global economic patient with a bad case of the bends." The problem gets passed down the line to the next taxpayers.

Spending prolifically does not solve the problem of prolific spending (where is Ted Sorensen?) Contraction and pulling in the perimeter is called for. If a combat unit is overextended, the only logical move is contraction.

The solution to personal overspending is realistic budgeting and restructuring of expenses. Yet the subliminal message in the federal bailouts is that if you are a monumentally big screw up, you will get something for nothing. Poor financial performance is rewarded. It's a mulligan.

The taxpayers accept this because they hope for free government money, too, to save the mortgage that was not economically tenable at the signing. Surely they can print enough money for them, too?

A checkout girl cheerfully shared recently that "they are planning a second stimulus check this year." When asked where this extra money will come from, she responded just as chipper, "Why, they'll print it!" And the average citizen does not understand how this currency devaluation may detrimentally affect them. All they know is, their government is giving them money to buy something.

What does all this mean to hale and hearty Americans that are fiscally prudent, living within their means? They are adrift among messages to spend, messages which brand them fools for saving. Since the average citizen lives a deficit lifestyle, current government policy does not even give them cause to blink. There are those who leverage a "bankruptcy lifestyle," maxing out the cards and lots of goodies, in exchange for seven years bad credit. Then back on the treadmill.

Ranger fears it is too late to pull in the perimeter. We will be overrun, even though it may be spun as a victory.

The gaps in our ranks will indicate otherwise.