I was reading a thread about corporate America in one of the most unlikely of places, a sports message board. The theme of the thread started off about how bad the economy was and all the jobs people are losing. Then the thread moved onto how this country will never be the same again and that we might very well be in the decline of America as the leading nation of the world. Finally, the thread moved onto the bailouts and, of course, AIG.
First off, I feel horrible for the people losing their jobs and the families that are struggling to get by. Most of these people don’t deserve what is happening to them. For the people that were fiscally responsible but are in dire straits because of circumstance, they surely didn’t deserve this. Everyone is mainly throwing blame around at the companies that started this crisis, such as AIG and Fannie Mae. I don’t think that is where the blame really lies though.
The blame really lies on the government and it’s inadequate corporate regulation policies. There will always be greed, especially in a capitalistic society. Greed is a part of human nature and regulation should be there to expect that and prevent a disaster from occurring before it occurs. I think we need to get past the blame though and move onto the recovery. These corporate bailouts are necessary for our recovery.
I understand the perspective of letting these companies go under because there will always be more fiscally responsible competitors to take their place. The problem is when these competitors are not American companies but instead from China or Saudi Arabia. If we lived in a bubble then I would agree but if we can help these companies recover and prevent the same mistakes from happening again then we might have a chance to remain competitive in a world economy. We can’t just let these companies collapse because of the greed of a few. The few should be punished but that doesn’t mean the company should be left to die when it’s death will have an impact on jobs in America as well as our economic strength against the rest of the world.
We are at war every day in this world, shots may not be fired but the war of economics is always being fought and you need to protect the assets that are fighting this war. The companies in our country, that have a major impact on the economics of the world, are probably more important to the security of this nation than the terrorists we are hunting in the mountains of Afghanistan. I also don’t think we are necessarily seeing the decline of America. If we don’t watch out, there are definitely countries that could pose a major threat economically, such as China.
Nevertheless, we can adapt and sometimes the best improvements are made from disasters like the one we are in today. We certainly need to improve our education system and that is something I hope the Obama administration will take seriously and not forget about in all these other initiatives they are trying to push through. Our children’s education might have the biggest impact on the future of this country.
