Personal Financial Crisis. Do You Owe Me Support?

Do you have a personal financial crisis?  Do you therefore deserve a bailout?  Do I?

I mean, why not?  I’m making less money these days.  Why shouldn’t I get my piece of the pie?  What about the people who lost $50 billion with Bernie Madoff?  Shouldn’t they get a bailout?  And what about the poor fellow who owns the gas station down the street?  Gas has dropped by more than 2/3 in price.  He must be hurting…shouldn’t we bail that poor guy out too?

No.  None of us should be bailed out.  I shouldn’t be bailed out.  I started a company and I did so with an understanding that I could succeed or I could fail.  It’s not a question of fair…it never was.

With all due respect, the people who invested with Madoff also should have understood that they were taking a risk.  That’s what investing is all about – as if you didn’t already know that.

And the same thing can be said for car companies, banks, insurance companies, etc.  Allow companies to succeed and fail and we’ll ultimately have a much stronger economy.  People will be displaced.  Employees will need to struggle to find new jobs. They may have to obtain vocation skills training.  Others may be forced into lower paying jobs or early retirement.  That will be painful, I know.  But the consequences of allowing sick companies to remain on life support are far worse.  At least that’s how I see it.

What say you?  Do you agree that bailing out the car manufacturers, banks and other struggling firms is a good idea or do you think they should be allowed to fail?