Let 'em Fail!

Imagine that a passenger liner, far out at sea, strikes an iceberg. The owners of the ship, with the government's blessing, had removed the lifeboats to make the cruise industry more profitable. The ship is sinking, and thousand of passengers are in peril.

Just when things look dire, a rescue team appears on the horizon. The passengers cheer and sigh with relief. Then they watch in horror as the "rescue" crews ignore them, and start trying to repair and salvage the now nearly submerged ship. As an outraged public watches on television, a government spokesperson calmly explains "we have to save the ship, otherwise all those passengers would drown."

We -- the American people -- are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to shore up an industry that has put thousands of the privileged into penthouse suites and limousines while imperiling the financial futures of millions of middle-class women and men. We're mounting a futile effort to save a sinking ship when the resources would be better spent on helping the individuals who will suffer when Wall Street collapses under the weight of its own corruption.

Let's rescue the victims, not the perpetrators.

-- RonRisley - 20 Sep 2008