Bailout Bonanza

I just heard a blurb on the radio that pretty much sums up how I feel about the bailouts going on in Canada and the US (and any that may happen in Canada in the future).... "Why do we have to pay for someone else's bad decision?" [sirius Patriot radio - Wilkow Majority]

I think about how this money does not come from a bottomless pit. It is ALWAYS taken in one way or another from taxpayers. Whether other programs get cut to pick up the slack or a little extra tax is snuck in here and there, it comes from US. It comes from you and it comes from me. Why?

I think about how much money my bf and I earn combined and how at this point in time, it is not quite enough to buy a house here. We could afford it, but it would take a huge chunk out of our grocery and utility and savings money. So technically, we cannot afford it. We make just under $100,000! That is a decent amount of money, far above what is made on minimum wage (which would be about $25,000 or less). But we cannot afford to buy a home right now because we figured out that between us we pay $30,000 of that in taxes and other deductions (EI, CP, extended health care). If we get taxed more in one way or another - direct income tax, or tax on purchases, we will be even LESS able to afford a home. We could walk into a bank and get a good mortgage based on that hundred grand a year, but our actual take-home-pay is far less. In other words, our actual earnings would NOT pay for a mortgage on a decent home here right now. Why is that fair? Why can't we buy a home just because other people in other places made bad decisions with their money or their business? And my feelings on some social programs are included too. I do not mean people who actually need it but the fact is very clear that there are a LOT of people using various social programs that do NOT need it, or are too lazy to do anything about it. So while I am helping to support those kinds of people, I can only rent a home too. If our rent goes up and our taxes go up, we can't afford to live here either - so where will we live? Why should we be made to struggle in life in order to support other people that won't help themselves? It is so aggravating.

Social programs have their place, they have helped me a lot. But I worked full time while receiving some assistance - I did not sit on my ass. I moved back to my city on July 2 2004 and I started my job on July 5th. The longest I have gone without a job is one month. If I have kids to feed, I will work the lowliest job around if it will put food in their mouths. Why doesn't everyone else do that? There are HIRING signs all over this city - businesses are literally desperate for workers - yet I know people that say they can't find a job. Are you kidding me? It's a pathetic excuse, it really is. Or they technically make more money staying on Unemployment (or make the same), so they don't see the need to go out and get a job. Why work when you can make the same amount doing nothing? THAT is a bad attitude and a bad decision - and I have to pay for that and so do you.

Business bailouts --- it is just a fact of life that some businesses will be lucrative for awhile and always a risk that things will not stay that way. Technology and needs/wants change all the time. If a business does not anticipate those changes or badly mismanages their whole money system, why should I have to pay for it? If some big-wig bosses were pocketing too much money and choosing to live high on the hog while their business was losing money, why should I have to pay for it?

The government does NOT have money. It does not earn money. It is like a broker really - taking money that we pay in taxes and distributing it for us. Any money going to bailouts or any other programs comes from you and me. The whole system is a mess where people that genuinely need help are NOT getting it, and people who could manage on their own but don't feel like it are getting it. Businesses that made bad decisions are going to get it. People that work there and expected to be employed there until retirement instead of planning for a possible career change are going to get it. Why should I pay for that? Why should I be forced to rent a home because others out there need help paying for a mortgage on a house they own? Please explain the logic in that to me because I don't see it.