just a thought

All of this economic bailout talk is worrisome. Are we really going to "bail out" companies predicated almost solely on greed? These are the same corporations who simultaneously prey on the middle class and give out bonuses to the tune of millions of dollars every year to CEO's. Bonuses. Not salary, not wages earned. Bonuses. And now because they played roulette with the average American's money and lost, they need bailed out. So the government feels inclined to spend 700 billion dollars, which we don't have, to "save" the economy. For as much as socialism is belittled and maligned in the United States, it seems as though we are getting a crappier version of socialism, one without public benefit. Forget public healthcare, mass transit, and cheap education. Let's instead spend 700 billion dollars to ensure that the same system that got us here keeps on running.

If you ask me, it's just putting off the inevitable. This nation has been on a bit of a historical honeymoon. After all, we have been here for less than 300 hundred years. If America is to survive, then it must find a way to be sustainable. Some hold that "its better to burn out then it is to rust." Let us hope that this is not the case with the United States. Regardless, a slower economy, though not as glamorous and shiny, might actually allow for more sustainability. We have been burning hot and bright for the past few centuries. We have grown so fast that we do not have accurate historical self-perception. We believe our causes are always just, we believe that we can do anything we put our minds to, and we believe that a blazing economy and comfort is our right. Pride predicates a fall, remember? Maybe it is time to shift our priorities and find a more humble national identity that does not rely on money, superiority, and self-righteous expansion. We are bound to come down from this cloud. When we do, it will not be without painful adjustment, but does not pain give birth to greatness? The Great Depression was terrible indeed, but it gave birth to the "greateast generation" who, it could be argued, saved the world.

Let the chips fall where they may. The bed has been made, with or without our consent, and it is time to lie in it.