bail me a river

On today's date back in 1792, King Louis XVI of France was tried for treason. One of his greatest responsibilities as king was to deal with the country's enormous debt, but his indecisiveness and conservatism led the people to reject him. He was eventually guillotined (is that actually a verb?) on January 21, 1793.

My random quote of the day is from Mark Twain, who said, "Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first."

Both of these are somewhat apropos for the day, as our government continues deliberation on the $14 billion bailout package for the automakers. On one hand, I understand it: the failure of these three companies will indeed have massive, global economic repercussions. While the majority of the job losses will be directly within GM, Ford and Chrysler, the downstream impact on their parts makers and suppliers, advertisers, and creditors is even more daunting. And putting another 2.5 million people out of work will further strain a compromised economy.

On the other hand, however, these three companies are in this position because of a series of poor decisions, including sub-par products and overproduction. Other companies, such as airlines and steelmakers, have survived bankruptcy. You reorganize and adjust…just not all at once.

I really just can’t wrap my head around what $14 billion means. That’s $14,000,000,000,000…or just about equal to the entire U.S. Gross National Product (GNP), the total dollar value of all final goods and services produced for consumption in society during a particular time period. For perspective, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) budgeted just over $4.5 billion in 2007. That’s a lot of dough for some dysfunctional mojo.

Thing is, where does it end? Companies are lined up with their palms out expecting the government to bail them out of their poor decisions. What makes the Big Three more deserving than the National Cancer Institute? A few years ago, we leased a new car, then converted that lease into a purchase. Not at all a smart business decision, as we will be paying almost three times the car’s final value once it is paid off. With the way people are acting of late, I should be able to go back to the dealer and say, “Things are really tight right now and I’m afraid of not being able to make my remaining payments. If you use some of that bailout money to pay off my loan, I’ll buy another car from you.” Which, of course, I won’t because of the aforementioned quality issue…

But don’t I deserve some of this hot bailout action?! After all, I pay my taxes and I’m never late with the car payments or the mortgage. But apparently, the abiding good citizens don’t get bailed out. We are merely rewarded with conscience, responsibility and integrity.

And cars are too expensive for that…