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There seems to be two issues that the American Public is having a hard time dealing with: One is the bail-out of "The Big Three" Auto Manufacturers and the other is helping people who are facing home foreclosure.The American Public is ambivalent about "The Big Three" going bankrupt. But if either Ford or GM goes into Chapter 11, it will cause many millions of the workers who work for the auto-part manufacturers and the workers who work for the companies that supply raw materials to "The Big Three" and to the auto-part supplies to lose their jobs.
The assembly line workers are not at fault for the failures of "The Big Three". It has been the overpaid management of "The Big Three" that has caused the problems. But listening to "Conservative Talk Radio", FOX News and the Republican Congressmen (who represent the states where Honda, Toyota, BMW, VW and other foreign car brands have set up shop) has confused Joe Q. Average American into believing that "The Big Three" assembly line workers are grossly overpaid at over $70 per hour, which is actually triple what they make. Recently, while in a doctor's office waiting room, I got into a conversation with a man after we saw a story on the waiting room TV about the economy. After I convinced him that "The Big Three" assembly line workers make no more than the American workers in the "right to work" states where they have foreign car manufacturing plants, he said "Maybe Americans who make only $10 per hour or $15 per hour don't want to bail out "The Big Three" so that their assembly line workers can keep making $20 per hour". When I said that many of those $10 per hour and $15 per hour workers will lose their jobs because of the depression caused by either Ford or GM going into Chapter 11 or worse Chapter 7, he said, "So be it. We are sick of throwing good money after bad".
Then there is the the Home Foreclosure Problem. Many people don't think it is right to bail out people who got themselves into trouble and now can't pay their mortgages. Many say, "I make my payments on time. Why should my tax money help other people?" As we try to punish these people, just remember one thing: "Act selfishly." I played by the rules all my life. I bought a home in 1973, worked all the overtime that I could on my full-time job, worked a part time job and paid my home off early. In 2003, I sold that home in NY and bought a home in Florida for $250,000 in cash. The value of my home hit $350,000 at the peak of the boom, but since then, the value of my home has dropped from $350,000 to about $170,000. I would guess that many people's homes have taken similar hits by percentage. My next-door neighbor is getting close to losing his home. He bought a home that he could afford ($190,000) in 2006, but because he works in home contracting, he first lost his business and then after hiring on as a worker for another company, he lost that job. Only his wife is still working full time, but her income and whatever he can pickup part-time will not feed their three kids and pay the mortgage. When he loses his home, the bank will lose $60,000 or more because my neighbor still owes $150,000 and a house similar to his (a few blocks away) was just auctioned off at $80,000. A larger house than mine just went for $135,000 in foreclosure. My home's value is dropping with each foreclosure.
I was watching Night-Line and in one California town, they showed a home which originally sold for 1.4 million that sold in foreclosure for $900,000. The bank lost one half million dollars (35% of their investment) and the home prices in that neighborhood have dropped about 30%. So I say, "Be selfish. Allow the government to work out loans which will cost the bank less in the long run and may get the tax payer's money paid back over time, but most importantly to you, it will spare your home any further drop in value and over time may restore the value to your largest investment, your home."
It is hard to argue with the logic that says, "I would rather suffer than see you get ahead, get a break or even survive". Some people value the idealism of Capitalism over the pragmatism of moral treatment for all people, but where is the idealism of "All for One and One for All; We live in the UNITED States of America"? Thomas Paine once said, "If We Do Not Hang Together, We Shall Surely Hang Separately". Conservatives have said, "Personal Responsibility is what we need". Ebenezer Scrooge once said, "Are there no Prisons? Are there no workhouses?" Let's see who wins that battle of ideals.
