No More Wall Street Bailouts!

"Every time I come in the kitchen, you in the kitchen." - Mr. Jones from the movie Friday.

That's what it seems like every time this country gets into a financial bind.  Every time the citizens get hungry, big corporations are already in the kitchen with their heads in the refrigerator.

The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic led to multi-trillion dollar bailouts of businesses and citizens in this country.  I get the citizens needing a hand, but huge corporations?  Again?

Why is it that these billion dollar corporations (that boasts huge profits annually) always seem to run out of money?  

That's a rhetorical question.  We all know it's because of campaign contributions.  Politicians wouldn't dare turn their backs on their buddies when there's a penny to be made.  Get them re-elected and you'll never be broke.

We've heard the phrase "too big to fail" being thrown around left and right, but is that really true?  Can you be too big of a company to fold?  And if that's the case, then what's the incentive for these companies to do anything competent when they know that Uncle Sam is going to bail them out each time they make a mistake?

I've seen a few local businesses in my hometown closed down.  Not because they had poor service or offered an inferior product.  But because the bailouts didn't do enough (if anything) for them.  They don't have the billion dollar profits to fall back on and friends in the White House to throw a few dollar their way.  

Times only get hard for those in the lower tax brackets.  And it's those in the lower tax brackets whose funds are paying to sustain these corporations.  It still won't prevent layoffs and it still won't prevent them from fleecing you for profits sometime in the future.

I'm going to need these incompetent CEOs who can't stretch billion dollar annual profits over the course of a few months to stay out of this country's kitchen.

No Sports? Now What?

Never in my adult life has there ever been a period of time that I couldn't turn on TV and find some sports to watch.  I will pretty much watch any sport just because I love the spirit of athletic competition.  But here comes this funky COVID-19 ruining things for me and millions of others around the world.  It's way too early for an April Fool's Day joke.

The coronavirus has turned into a pandemic and sporting events are being either suspended indefinitely or canceled.  And I totally understand the seriousness of it all.  This virus is spreading like the flu and is causing mass hysteria around the world.  It sucks that it took something of this magnitude to get people to do the things they should have been doing since being old enough to attend kindergarten: wash their hands regularly and cover their mouth when they sneeze/cough.  

Without sports I'll find more time to blog, clear my DVR and read some more.  And of course, I'll tune into the reality show known as "world news" to see how our elected "leaders" are handling this crisis.  I truly hate politics when it comes to emergencies.  The people are usually secondary to political agendas.  Politicians aren't beneath using a crisis to further their agenda.  Here are some examples:

• Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, apparently tried to pass a coronavirus relief bill that came with an abortion-funding loophole chaser.  This is not the time to take advantage of the situation to get a bill passed.  Shame, Nancy!  
• President Trump banned travel to the U.S. except for in the UK and Ireland.  Not because they're coronavirus-free, but I'm guessing because he has golf resorts in those two countries.  The UK and Ireland have more cases of coronavirus then some of the other countries in the travel ban.  Greed.
• There's talk about offering corporate welfare to the airlines because people aren't traveling right now.  These companies fleece the general public around each holiday by jacking up already-high prices and now they need a handout?  Ridiculous.
• Bottled water and other essentials are slowly creeping up in price during a time of need.  Anything for an extra buck, right?

Corporations are still taking advantage of U.S. citizens despite the seriousness of the crisis.  Yet we still vote the same people into office each term who allow these companies to do so.  They should drug test all voters.  

As for the coronavirus that has taken over our lives as we know it, all we can do is wait and see what happens with all of this.  Are we closer to the movie "28 Days Later"?  Lord, I hope not.