What is to Blame for our Financial Crisis?
The Skeptic is watching the recent protests on Wall Street and he can't help but wonder how the hell we have become so uninformed. He has watched as these people take their turns in front of the microphones trying to explain why it is that they've decided to join this protest without a cause and so far none of them have come up with a sound reason or for that matter what they expect to gain there. They seem to be upset that people on Wall Street make too much money, click here, that they are not happy they have to repay their student loans, that they have no jobs, that some people have too much money, that some people don't have enough money, that no one is paying for their healthcare, and a few dozen more complaints that the Skeptic feels are awfully silly things to be protesting. In essence they are arguing that because some people have lots of money and don't have to work that no one should have to, especially people who take the time to publicly complain about it, to the Skeptic it comes down to the fact that these people have done a terrible time managing their lives. They attend college but they study things that guarantee them that they won't have any marketable skills. When you borrow thousands of dollars to study things like political science, women's studies, art or any number of things that would make a fine hobby you set yourself up for a life of wondering why you can't find work. Yes, things like math and sciences are difficult and studying those subjects doesn't leave much time for partying but if you get a degree in something with practical applications it's a good assumption that you will have a job and you won't have to spend your time living in squalor protesting things that make no sense whatsoever. The Skeptic thinks protesting a war might make some sense but protesting not having a job is a colossal waste of time. Maybe you don't feel you have the mental capacity for a degree in math or science, perhaps you should consider a trade school instead of accumulating all that debt to obtain a degree that will get you nothing. At least if you have a marketable skill you can make a living, even when times are tough like now the Skeptic will guarantee you that a certificate proving you are a skilled electrician will get you more than a degree in women's studies or art history, you might not get the same satisfaction from it or feel so self important but you'll be able to eat without being a load on society.
It's not just here in America that this sense of entitlement is proliferating, it's everywhere, all over Europe people are engaged in similar protests over equally foolish demands. In Europe the people are incensed that they may not be able to continue living their lives with borrowed money, they seem to think it's so unfair. They retire after a ridiculously short working life and go on to collect a pension for the rest of their lives and this is only if they actually have a job, if they don't work they get a living wage from the government for as long as they need it. It's insanity yet they feel perfectly entitled to protest even minor changes to the status quo, never mind that if nothing changes the entire system will collapse, these people are either incredibly greedy or incredibly stupid, even the Skeptic isn't sure which is a more apt description. No one in their right mind would think they could run their personal finances like this and get away with it very long but apparently it's a perfectly acceptable concept when done on a large scale. The problem is so easy to understand the Skeptic is perplexed that so few people seem to grasp it, presumably most of Europe is literate and at least somewhat proficient in mathematics but they continue to protest the fact that a small group of rich people don't have the resources to support everyone. It's mind boggling because it doesn't take an Einstein to do the math required to figure out it's not possible to support a billion people with the accumulated wealth of a couple million people. Just try the math yourself, if you can make it work out send your work to the Skeptic and he'll retract everything he's said on the subject. He won't be expecting any mail on this topic unless it's from some idiot who misplaces a few decimal points in his calculations because it cannot be done.
Look, the Skeptic is not against helping out the unfortunate among us, far from it, he's highly in favor of helping out...as long as it's done constitutionally here in the United States and since he knows little about the European Union he'll just say it should be done sensibly over there. In the United States constitutionally means for the most part welfare should be done on the state level, there is nothing in the Constitution that allows the government to alleviate poverty, nothing, say it again, there is nothing there that allows for it. Realistically speaking however the Skeptic knows the Constitution has been ignored for a long time now so there is probably no stopping the feds from staying involved so he would just ask that in the future we stop approaching the issue emotionally and look at the issue in a practical manner. By that the Skeptic means we need to do a little math before we agree to spend money, families have to do, governments need to do it too. Programs that give money to people in return for them doing nothing for it are extremely difficult to cut, once they are in place politicians, mostly Democrats but occasionally Republicans, rail against cuts because, big surprise here, people who receive benefits from these programs like them and will do damn near anything to keep them in place. Hell, the Skeptic wouldn't be all that surprised if they would go to the extreme step of protesting in the streets to prevent any cuts. The trouble is the federal government cannot fund these programs anymore, we spend a trillion and a half dollars more than we collect every year, we're at a point now where people are going to stop loaning us money and once that happens we are in uncharted waters, which as I'm sure you can imagine isn't a good thing. All of our financial problems would disappear in a heartbeat if we would only live within our means and stop running a deficit, jobs would reappear like magic but we need to get over the stupid idea that the purpose of government is to support us, no matter what anyone tells you that is not something that any government can do forever. Sometimes the Skeptic thinks the reason governments are so willing to run huge deficits is because they know it's a drag on private industry and they like that because it makes people look to government to protect them and help them.
The Skeptic could go on forever on the subject but you either get it or you don't, no amount of logic can convince people who continually put emotions and ideology over rational thought and common sense. The point of this article was to lay blame for the financial crisis where it belongs, not with the bankers, not that they escape the wrath of the Skeptic, but with all of us, but most especially with politicians who continue to push this nonsense that the wealthy can afford to support the rest of us for the express purpose of being reelected. Did you get that? These politicians are the blame, once they are elected the first time they think they are personally are entitled to hold the office to which they were elected and because they have that misplaced sense of entitlement they're perfectly willing to destroy the finances of a once great country. The anger we all feel right now shouldn't be directed at the bankers and special interests, it needs to be directed at the politicians, listen to them as they complain about money in politics, they carry on as if once someone makes a contribution to their campaign they are obligated to vote in that person's interest, the argument is nonsense. On one hand they're telling us that they are too weak to do the right thing so if we want a fair system we need to remove the money from the system and on the other hand they are perfectly willing to argue they need the money to be reelected as if that's a good argument. Why the hell is it a good thing to reelect someone without the morals or standards to do the right thing regardless of whether or not they are reelected. We need to get angry at these people, they aren't there for us and they haven't been for a long time now. They are there because they enjoy living a privileged life, it's why even multimillionaires aspire to elected office, it's a power trip for them, they are the elite, they know the country's secrets, they can take us to war, they can hand out the goodies and we can't afford them any longer.
We aren't exactly blameless in this either, we've accepted their flimsy excuses for our poor financial condition and we demand the goodies they pass out but those times are coming to an end. the only question is whether we will take serious steps to fix them on our own or if we will simply sit back and wait for the inevitable collapse.
So, stop protesting and look in the mirror, ask yourself if you could have made better choices in your life. If the answer is yes, and the Skeptic knows it will be if you're honest because all of us could make better choices, then do something about it, learn a trade, go back to college and take some courses that will give you marketable skills, start a business, volunteer, see if a skilled craftsman will teach you his trade, just do something but stop the damn protesting. It's a waste of time.
It's not just here in America that this sense of entitlement is proliferating, it's everywhere, all over Europe people are engaged in similar protests over equally foolish demands. In Europe the people are incensed that they may not be able to continue living their lives with borrowed money, they seem to think it's so unfair. They retire after a ridiculously short working life and go on to collect a pension for the rest of their lives and this is only if they actually have a job, if they don't work they get a living wage from the government for as long as they need it. It's insanity yet they feel perfectly entitled to protest even minor changes to the status quo, never mind that if nothing changes the entire system will collapse, these people are either incredibly greedy or incredibly stupid, even the Skeptic isn't sure which is a more apt description. No one in their right mind would think they could run their personal finances like this and get away with it very long but apparently it's a perfectly acceptable concept when done on a large scale. The problem is so easy to understand the Skeptic is perplexed that so few people seem to grasp it, presumably most of Europe is literate and at least somewhat proficient in mathematics but they continue to protest the fact that a small group of rich people don't have the resources to support everyone. It's mind boggling because it doesn't take an Einstein to do the math required to figure out it's not possible to support a billion people with the accumulated wealth of a couple million people. Just try the math yourself, if you can make it work out send your work to the Skeptic and he'll retract everything he's said on the subject. He won't be expecting any mail on this topic unless it's from some idiot who misplaces a few decimal points in his calculations because it cannot be done.
Look, the Skeptic is not against helping out the unfortunate among us, far from it, he's highly in favor of helping out...as long as it's done constitutionally here in the United States and since he knows little about the European Union he'll just say it should be done sensibly over there. In the United States constitutionally means for the most part welfare should be done on the state level, there is nothing in the Constitution that allows the government to alleviate poverty, nothing, say it again, there is nothing there that allows for it. Realistically speaking however the Skeptic knows the Constitution has been ignored for a long time now so there is probably no stopping the feds from staying involved so he would just ask that in the future we stop approaching the issue emotionally and look at the issue in a practical manner. By that the Skeptic means we need to do a little math before we agree to spend money, families have to do, governments need to do it too. Programs that give money to people in return for them doing nothing for it are extremely difficult to cut, once they are in place politicians, mostly Democrats but occasionally Republicans, rail against cuts because, big surprise here, people who receive benefits from these programs like them and will do damn near anything to keep them in place. Hell, the Skeptic wouldn't be all that surprised if they would go to the extreme step of protesting in the streets to prevent any cuts. The trouble is the federal government cannot fund these programs anymore, we spend a trillion and a half dollars more than we collect every year, we're at a point now where people are going to stop loaning us money and once that happens we are in uncharted waters, which as I'm sure you can imagine isn't a good thing. All of our financial problems would disappear in a heartbeat if we would only live within our means and stop running a deficit, jobs would reappear like magic but we need to get over the stupid idea that the purpose of government is to support us, no matter what anyone tells you that is not something that any government can do forever. Sometimes the Skeptic thinks the reason governments are so willing to run huge deficits is because they know it's a drag on private industry and they like that because it makes people look to government to protect them and help them.
The Skeptic could go on forever on the subject but you either get it or you don't, no amount of logic can convince people who continually put emotions and ideology over rational thought and common sense. The point of this article was to lay blame for the financial crisis where it belongs, not with the bankers, not that they escape the wrath of the Skeptic, but with all of us, but most especially with politicians who continue to push this nonsense that the wealthy can afford to support the rest of us for the express purpose of being reelected. Did you get that? These politicians are the blame, once they are elected the first time they think they are personally are entitled to hold the office to which they were elected and because they have that misplaced sense of entitlement they're perfectly willing to destroy the finances of a once great country. The anger we all feel right now shouldn't be directed at the bankers and special interests, it needs to be directed at the politicians, listen to them as they complain about money in politics, they carry on as if once someone makes a contribution to their campaign they are obligated to vote in that person's interest, the argument is nonsense. On one hand they're telling us that they are too weak to do the right thing so if we want a fair system we need to remove the money from the system and on the other hand they are perfectly willing to argue they need the money to be reelected as if that's a good argument. Why the hell is it a good thing to reelect someone without the morals or standards to do the right thing regardless of whether or not they are reelected. We need to get angry at these people, they aren't there for us and they haven't been for a long time now. They are there because they enjoy living a privileged life, it's why even multimillionaires aspire to elected office, it's a power trip for them, they are the elite, they know the country's secrets, they can take us to war, they can hand out the goodies and we can't afford them any longer.
We aren't exactly blameless in this either, we've accepted their flimsy excuses for our poor financial condition and we demand the goodies they pass out but those times are coming to an end. the only question is whether we will take serious steps to fix them on our own or if we will simply sit back and wait for the inevitable collapse.
So, stop protesting and look in the mirror, ask yourself if you could have made better choices in your life. If the answer is yes, and the Skeptic knows it will be if you're honest because all of us could make better choices, then do something about it, learn a trade, go back to college and take some courses that will give you marketable skills, start a business, volunteer, see if a skilled craftsman will teach you his trade, just do something but stop the damn protesting. It's a waste of time.