The sign on the refrigerator in the office break room offers a firm rebuke.
“Everyone works hard for their money,” it states. “Please only eat what you have brought in for yourself.”
Someone needs to make a copy of that sign and hang it on Wall Street.
The $700 billion bailout before Congress seems distasteful to almost every taxpayer. Officials say trust them, the bailout is absolutely necessary.
Are these not the same bankers and bureaucrats who have been running the financial system for years? It’s difficult to believe they’ve suddenly found the one sure-fire way to turn this thing around, they just need a blank check to get it done.
This whole mess got started by lenders who didn’t ask enough questions and gave money to people who had no means or intention of paying it back.
Taxpayers may want to take a cue from lenders who have tightened their standards in recent months. We should be asking serious questions about these banks. Wanting the money really, really bad is no longer a valid reason for a loan. Show some collateral, evidence you’ve learned from your mistakes, know how to handle money and have a reasonable plan for paying it back — plus interest. Then we may be able to deal.
I don’t make any pretense of understanding the world of high finance. I’m starting to believe some high-flying executives like it that way and want to keep Americans in the dark.
I do know — and the sign on the refrigerator will back me up — that I work hard for my money. It gets budgeted according to which bills are due, with the house payment a top priority. Other purchases may get postponed or put on a wish list because having a place to live is important.
So it’s pretty frustrating to discover that while I said no to those adorable shoes at the mall and cable television, the guys in suits treated that hard-earned mortgage payment like fun money, trading it around for riskier and riskier investments.
Now they come hat in hand to ask for a bailout because…. well, it’s too complicated for us to understand, but trust them, they know what they’re doing. This from the bunch who gave us the term subprime.
The average American is left to work hard to cover health insurance premiums and a house payment. Increasing food prices mean he can’t afford to go out for lunch and gas prices make it too expensive to drive home. But when he goes to the break room at noon, he finds an investment banker eating his baloney sandwich.
Wall Street will soon discover there is no free lunch.
“Subprime Dreams” just happens to be the working title on my next novel. I think it’s acceptable to plagiarize from yourself. Maybe my character needs to eat baloney sandwiches.