A few weeks ago I received a bit of unsolicited advice from a friend and fellow retired senior military officer. He told me that I need to knock off my depressing “Chicken Little” type newspaper columns and stick to nostalgic recollections of Grandpa Jones, my brother David, or tales of the “pore farm.” He minced no words, and to paraphrase an old high school saying, “He was about as subtle as a train wreck.”
Despite the aforementioned sound advice, I don’t seem to be able to resist the urge to dabble in politics, religion, or lawyer bashing for any length of time. I’ve been a “victim” in this regard for my entire life, and I think the government should compensate me monetarily for this unfortunate condition. They’re sending everyone else “free money,” so why not me?
From my perhaps limited perspective, the last few decades have become the “Age of the Victim.” No longer does anyone seem willing to accept the reality of bad luck, or assume responsibility for making really stupid decisions. As generation after generation of young people have been brain-washed by liberal educators, promise-anything politicians, and touchy-feely civil libertarians, a huge majority of younger Americans do not understand that they have just as much right to fail as they do to succeed. They expect some government agency to provide for their every need.
The government bailout mentality has become prevalent in every aspect of our society. In recent years we’ve all witnessed the abuses when dealing with hurricane, drought, or flood assistance. Yet, the cost of emergency services and victim compensation for the latest damage from hurricane Ike will be “chump change” when compared to anticipated federal bailout of our banking and investment institutions. Latest figures show that perhaps a trillion dollars of taxpayer money will be required to prop up the greedy financial institutions and prevent worldwide economic chaos. While I recognize the need for the federal government to intervene on behalf of the average citizen who has entrusted his or her life savings to these institutions, I do not trust either the President or Congress to implement it fairly. Who will decide which investment groups to bail out? I recently read that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi had several hundred thousand invested in the American Insurance Group (AIG), and John Kerry’s wife had over $2 million in AIG stock. You can bet $85 billion that the government will not allow that “bad boy” to fail.
What has caused this global financial meltdown? Many are quick to assign blame to the Wall Street “fat cats.” This is somewhat true, but there have always been greedy financiers who would sell their souls for a quick buck. So, why do we have the current crisis? I’m certainly no expert, but it is blatantly obvious that it is because of a lack of regulatory oversight by the federal government. For decades we had strict guidelines by which financial institutions must follow. During the late 1970s the federal government began to deregulate this industry. The first major fallout was the savings and loan crisis which cost the U.S. taxpayers about $160 billion — small potatoes indeed compared to this current fiasco.
While I recognize the need to protect the retirement savings of the small investor, we must not allow the unscrupulous financiers to reap enormous benefits from this government handout. Protect the little guy and let the industry recover on its own merit. Most important, Congress must show a tiny bit of bipartisan leadership and institute regulatory controls to make sure this never happens again.
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Larry M. Jones is a retired Navy Commander and aviator who raises cattle and hay in the Brock/Lazy Bend part of Parker County.
