Shoes and Feet And Economics

I was reading the comments on a post over at Aunt B.’s and something just didn’t feel right. The post itself was about the current budget shortfall in Tennessee and the necessity for an income tax to make things right. Of course we all can just rest comfortably in the knowledge that I’m agin’ it. (The income tax.)

But it wasn’t just that. It was something that I’ve seen not just at TCP but really at every place I’ve gone to read about what folks are saying about the economy. I don’t personally think we’re headed for another great depression, but I’m very interested in the thought processes of those who do. I want to know why they think another GD is going to happen and what they think we should do about it.

But over and over again I keep reading these long diatribes about how we are in this mess because of irresponsible spending, greed, etc. I also read about how we shouldn’t spend our money to bail out the fools who made stupid mistakes and created this problem.

What strikes me as odd is how much of this type of diatribe I read from the same folks who are adamantly pro-choice. It strikes me as odd because having grown up in the very pro-gestation world of conservative Christianity, I’m very familiar with that speech. Except it’s usually directed at 17 year olds who find themselves with child after having sex. I think it’s very ironic how “you should have just kept your legs together” has been replaced with “you should have just not invested in the subprime market.”

Now I don’t quite know yet how I feel about the bailout in the long view. In the short view I feel like it’s sort of similar to taking your cousin to prom–not ideal, but maybe worse than the alternative of sticking it out without your cousin’s help. I do know that I’ve been saying for years that folks in real estate development were being shortsighted by building far more million-dollar homes than there were people with the money to buy that product. Nevertheless, I’m still a bit put off by the strident judgement and truculent so-thereness of a lot of anti-bailout arguments.

I think any of us over the age of four can realise that people make mistakes. A lot of mistakes. They make bad choices and bad decisions on almost a daily basis. I don’t know if it’s helpful to just ridicule people for their mistakes instead of helping them find a solution. It always bothered me when I heard people rudely write off pregnant teenagers. It bothers me when the same tactic is employed against investment banks. In both cases it seems to betray a lack of willingness to understand, sympathise and work for a happy ending.