Bad decisions get rewarded

By The Daily Progress

Published: December 1, 2008

Witnessing our government wrestle with the economy’s deepening problems can be a humbling experience. With complicated financial networks in play and literally hundreds of billions of dollars being moved like pieces on a checkerboard, the complexity of it all makes one want to submit to a situation that is out of our control and to all but give up trying to understand the logic.

And yet, we just can’t stop trying. Our jaws drop day after day. Heads shaking, we wonder of the next multibillion-dollar move: How does that make sense? Well, we ask that and more…

*  If you are an employee at a company deemed by the government to be “too big to fail,” what’s your sense of urgency to offer superior productivity, service or innovation?

* Why haven’t the automobile manufacturers employing thousands of Americans in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee (Hyundai, BMW, Honda, etc.) flown to the Capitol in private jets to beg for money?

*  If debt-heavy spending by consumers who should have been saving some of their money played a big role in the financial meltdown, why would another stimulus for consumer spending make sense?

*  The government “rescued” Citibank on Nov. 24, using your tax dollars. Citibank shares that day shot up 58 percent, rewarding shareholders and company executives who surely hold vast numbers of shares. How were you rewarded?

*  What happens when the shares of financial firms employing taxpayer bailout money return to the bottom floor of the market?

*  Why beat around the bush with the terms “troubled assets” and “toxic assets”? Can’t we just call them what they are? Bad loans. Poor business decisions. Failed strategies. Greed. Corruption. Nonsense. Risky bets that didn’t pay off.

*  If government action using taxpayer money is intended to be conducted in the bright sunshine, how can the Treasury cobble together plans to spend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in the dark of night, seemingly overnight, without any public review?

*  Why can’t members of Congress bring automakers or financial tycoons before congressional committees for public caning sessions and tongue-lashings without having to express outrage and indignation by reading from prepared statements? If you’re really passionate and angry about something this important, can’t you speak from the heart and make eye contact?

*  If you as a taxpayer make poor decisions with your personal investment choices, are you rewarded or protected when they don’t work out?

*  If a corporation is so bad off that it must be “rescued,” how can that company’s executive leadership and board be allowed to keep their jobs?

*  With the economy on the skids and frugality supposedly back in vogue, do you hear many people calling Walmart evil any more?

* Would Wal-Mart be considered too big to fail?