Social Welfare or Corporate Welfare; The Here and Now or the Future

October 6th, 2008 | By Sonnie Johnson

The main issue on the heart of Americans right now is the $700 Billion Bail Out of Wall Street. Most of Us don’t want it and are pissed off the bill was passed into law. But that’s said and done and there is no real reason to continue to protest. So I decided to take a look from another perspective.

A term used to explain this bail out is corporate welfare. Allowing companies that continuously make decisions based on the right now and not the future, to continue to exist no matter how detrimental. Blame is placed at the feet of Wall Street and the entire country wants them to be held accountable for the mess. The Politicians don’t want to point fingers at themselves. The American people don’t want to take responsibility for their actions. So all fingers are pointed towards Wall Street.

When did we stop pointing fingers at the people that take advantage of Social Welfare? You know the ones’ that make decisions based on the right now and not the future, no matter how detremental. They want to point fingers else where, but that’s o.k. When did the calls cease to make these people stand up and take responsibilty for their actions or inaction?

Oh there she goes picking on black people again.

Let me fill you in on something. There are more than just black people on public assistance. Why do you always jump to throw black people into the category of the poor and needy? That’s a sterotype you need to work on. Stop bringing it to me.

Now back to what I was saying. Let’s deal with some of the differences first. Get the arguments out of the way.

Wall Street is already rich; Why do they need a bail out?

O.K. Wall Street is a place. Without people Wall Street would be a road with some buildings. So the true statement is most people on Wall Street are rich. But let me break that down for you even more. If you have a 401K then you are a part of Wall Street. If you own a home, then you are a part of Wall Street. If you invest in anything, stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, you are a member of Wall Street. Now tell me again that most people on Wall Street are rich.

Wall Street is greedy; Why do they need a bail out?

Americans are greedy. You know it and I know it. It isn’t a bad thing though. It forces companies to compete, lowering prices and garnering more choices. It forces Average Americans to continue their educations and save money to reach the American Dream. It’s when you lose track of your purpose that the problems come in.

When you begin to think owning a home is a birth right and not a privilege, you are letting your greed out weigh common sense. As a politician, if you think it is more important to give some one a house instead of teaching them to be home owners, your political greed outweighs common sense. As a business owner, if you think it’s more important for your C.E.O. and Board of Directors to get large checks instead on focusing of the over all strength of your company, you guessed it, your greed outweighs common sense.

Side note: Giving houses instead of teaching people to be home owners. Please read my article “I want to eat for a lifetime” Then you can understand the importance of this comment.

So how does the Bail Out of Wall Street compare to the yearly Bail Out of Main Street? Basically, Corporate welfare Vs. Social Welfare.

Last year, the Federal Government spent $570 Billion on Social Welfare programs. That’s welfare and Medicaid, combined. So if you take the one time major Bail Out of Wall Street, (I’m not so stupid to think another one isn’t coming) and compare it to the annual Bail Out of Main Street, who actually should be getting alot more blame placed at their feet?

It’s right to say that Wall Street took a risk with it’s money. It’s right to say that they are greedy. But it’s also right to say that Main Street should look at itself when talking about huge deficits and more government spending. Just because the numbers aren’t loudly talked about, doesn’t mean they don’t exist and don’t have a tremendous impact on our economy. Not just in a crisis but overall.

With all the finger pointing, alot of things get lost in the translation. The first step in this process was a good premise. Let Wall Street help Main Street by giving more loans to more people. You would call Wall Street greedy for going along with this but they didn’t have much of a choice.

There is Group called ACORN, the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now. Are there any famous community organizers you know? Of Course, Barack Obama. He was once a lawyer for this group. They mainly work on Voter Registration but they also dabble into housing issues. Well a young Barack Obama stood with ACORN against the state of Illinois for not offering an adequate amount of loans to lower class citizens and he won.

Making it more difficult for financial institutions to turn down mortgage loans. See, what started as Main Street Assistance lead to the big Wall Street Bail Out. Then when the shit hits the fan, nobody wants to take responsibility. So we all point the finger at a road with some buildings on it because the road can’t fight back.

So the next question becomes, “What will happen with more Social Bail out on top of the Corporate Bail Out? Will that make everyone happy? Or is that exposing the real greed of America? Wanting everyone to get something, no matter how it weakens our Government as a whole.

Are we really that greedy? Or is this the time we strap down and conserve. Maybe the retail stores would hit a snag but that would be better than major finanicail institutions going under. This should be the time we do invest. Show confidence in your Country to do more than Bail Out Wall Street or Main Street. Show your Country you have confidence in her recovery. Show the world we are not Greedy and when times get tough we suit up and move out, even when it doesn’t include our military.

Show the world we still believe in self responsibilty, so when we question actions of others, we don’t seem hypocritical.

They say that every generation should have to fight a war and deal with financial strife. Well we got both in the the first decade. I just hope we can learn the lessons quickly and have some time of peace. But I fear we’ve learned nothing.

The American People have forgotten how it felt to be hit on 9/11. How it was so important then that we let the world know we would react instead of waiting to be hit again. So we went into Iraq after Afghanistan. It seems that everyone has forgotten that the entire world thought there was weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. There was U.N. records of the weapons, not the mention the fact Saddam Hussein used them on his own people. Who do you think would have gotten the blame if we didn’t invade Iraq and those weapons made it to the streets of the U.S.? Bush would have been roasted.

Many of us were not alive during the Great Depression. So we take for granted what social programs were initially used for. For people who had nothing. Not because they didn’t work hard, but because they were wrapped up in a Government that failed them. Now Social Dollars are given to those who don’t want to work and still blame the government for their inability to reach the American Dream.

One more time for reference. If we, the American People, contiue to thinkof the right now instead of the future, what does that make us?