Why can’t some body bail me out?

I’m knee deep in student loans which, after my rent, is the largest bill I pay monthly and although my salary is nice I’m still feeling the stings of my debt and shake my head at some of the not so great financial choices I’ve made. This in turn affects how much money I can give to charity and for gifts. So, can the government help me out? No?

Hmm, so what if I was knee deep in my large companies debt of my making and although I make millions upon millions of dollars a year, I can’t get out of it. This in turn effects the policies I put forth to my customers who are now paying dearly for these polices and bad financial choices I’ve made. Can I get some help now? Yep!

Right or wrong, this is what the public understands the issue to be and they are mad as hell about bailing out the CEO “fat cats”. The problem remains, however, that if we don’t bail them out we all will suffer. Then there is the partisan politics being played. Let’s break this down, shall we, on my extreme laymen’s knowledge of finance.

Public Outrage
We don’t get help when we fail (however, when I fail the economy doesn’t fall apart).
Yet, this is exactly why thousands of people called the white house to protest the passing of the 700 billion dollar bailout. Why help the greedy who make profits of up to 80 million dollars a year!!!! I mean, perhaps, had they been willing to cut their salaries their companies wouldn’t be in such dire straights. Further, the economy and the people facing foreclosure wouldn’t be slipping off of a proverbial cliff. The idea of helping companies whose CEO’s are living large is repugnant to the public.

We are told that this plan MUST happen to help us all but we aren’t really clear why and why no other alternatives work. We are further enraged that the rich CEOs aren’t paying some price for this. Why aren’t they putting their salaries in the pot to help things out? They can afford one less house or car!

The Bailout
If we don’t bail them out we are told the economy will suffer. The situation is similar to saving the life of a murder so that we can use his skills to solve similar crimes (Silence of the Lambs?). If we don’t help these Wall Street companies we can’t make it. Now I’m all for the new regulations and I think the innocent employees at these companies shouldn’t be put out to pasture but the pubic needs reassurance that this is the only way to help us, that it won’t happen again and that there was absolutely no other way (with a detailed explanation of why nothing else worked).

Partisan Politics
As long as John Q Public hates the bailout plan the politics will continue to be played. John Q Public is also known as the voter. And if you are a senator/house member up for reelection do you want your voters upset at you? No. You want to go with what they want and that is a no go on the bailout so you vote their way. You also point fingers at the other side to help you out (anyone hear McCain’s useless rant about Obama and other democrats causing the failure of the bailout? Which is clearly odd to me since 67% Republicans voted AGAINST the bailout! One speech by Nancy Pelosi shouldn’t change their minds- get some tougher skin!)

So What Should Be Done?
Don’t ask me, I don’t know a darn thing about economics but I think the government needs to realize that the public is wising up (or at the very least mistrustful and mad as hell) which leads to no more soothing parent like words to a child like public. We demand some real answers and explanations. For any plan to work and for the pubic to shift, politicians need to understand that we are listening not just staring with mouths gaping open and eyes glazed. We have the Today Show, MSNBC, CNN and even the freaking Colbert Report to break things down to us if we don’t get quite what the politician’s are saying. So work it out- the public is watching!