Corporate Welfare

And finally for tonight, another quickie.

In discussing the bailout by the Federal Government recently of a number of institutions which got themselves into trouble largely because those industries were deregulated unsafely, one of my friends made an interesting comment.

It seems that in this country we've moved to a policy of privatizing profits and socializing losses. The argument we hear in favor of deregulation is always that the regulations are "excessive" and "unfairly restrict profits". The thing is, they also attempt to enforce ethical behavior.

So it's really true, we deregulate industries so those industries can go off and make even more obscene amounts of money, but when someone inevitably misbehaves without the enforced restraint of oversight, who steps in to bail them out? Our government, brandishing a fist full of our dollars.

The next time some Republican tries to tell you that only they have your interests as a business person at heart, because only they want to make sure you are free to behave in as money-grubbing a fashion as you so choose, realize just how much of your tax money has been spent cleaning up the mess left by previous deregulation. Enron. The Savings & Loans. The oil speculators. The mortgage industry. The list goes on and on.

Privatize profits, but socialize losses. What a sweet deal for the corporations.

Liam.