If you are just returning from your caribbean vacation you may not have heard that Republican Representative Jeb Hensarling thinks the financial bailout bill is tantamount to hypocrisy.
The practical representative further asked, “How can we have capitalism on the way up and socialism on the way down?”
Well, perhaps you think enough is enough and will book another holiday to Barbados where the cost of living is expensive but everyone pays for their own lunch. After all, you did leave home thinking you lived in a capitalistic society where some people believe that welfare recipients should find a real job.
For some people the bailout of American banks will mean long-term unemployment. Some financial executives will lose their jobs. Of course, this also means that other people lower in the totem pole will also have to find a new way to earn a living.
However, don’t cry for the executives because they are likely planning to spend some of the severance they receive on a long sabbatical in the Bahamas. This is a time for them to lick their wounds and prepare to rebound into another well-paid benefit package.
It is true that some of these islands spend in a year less than one percent of this total rescue package. It is also true that some Americans have labeled some of them as socialist states because of their generous giving of basic needs to their people for doing little or no work.
But in hard times everyone becomes vulnerable and looks to someone else to accept their responsibility. During tough times a capitalist becomes a diehard socialist. The United States is a great empire, but no greater than the small Caribbean islands that dot the map in the Caribbean Sea. Eventually, we have to suppress our ego and recognize our interdependence.
The world, the planet, is at a critical stage right now because many people do not believe that methane gas emissions threaten to wipe us off the face of the earth. Just as Bush and Paulson heeded the hurry call of their friends, so too will all of us when we realize it is too late to save the world.
The greatest financial handout in America’s history may give our people some time to think about the larger view than just the economy. Will it save the United States and the rest of the world from the real cause of financial reversals?
