If anyone has followed my Joe Ponders comments on other financial forums and sites, and if you have checked out my www.TheBailoutAndYou.com site, you know that I’m no fan of the bailout. Not Bush’s bailout, not Obama’s bailout, not any of it. That’s why I was so disgusted to learn that Obama is proposing more bailouts.
The entire bailout process thus far has been in direct contradiction to everything I stand for, how could I not voice my opposition? Well, I’m going to voice it, and I’m going to do the unpopular and un-politically-correct thing and voice my objection to the fullest. Those of you who are easily offended, change the channel now.
Most of us have heard the arguments before, the main one being that the various bailout programs mainly reward the incompetent at the expense (eventually) of the rest of us. Let’s find out just how deep the rabbit hole goes…
It’s easy for the middle class to rally against wealthy CEO’s that are just as useless as my mechanic in town that quotes me $980 to replace an $81 part, which I ended up doing myself in under 2 hours. These morons receive pay that is so astronomically higher than their actual “worth” (whatever that means), it’s easy to call out incompetent CEO’s and to complain about their outrageous salaries, bonuses, and stock packages. Living their life is nothing like living the life that you and I have. They become disconnected as to what is really important. It’s not an excuse for them, it’s an observation.
But what else is happening out there in the world of bailout funds? In my area, the government has set aside extra bailout funds to purchase orange construction signs demonstrating exactly where our bailout dollars are being used. These things are popping up on road and bridge construction projects everywhere around me. Money is being used to repair roads and bridges that weren’t particularly bad in the first place, how lovely. We’re supporting American business owners who bid on these projects, so I guess that’s lovely too. This sounds exactly like the kind of large living that America has become accustomed to, so what could be wrong?
All jokes aside, the real pain starts with the following story. Imagine the life of a software engineer who went to a good University for 6 years, got the best education, qualified for the best internships, worked hard, and really SACRIFICED for his future. Then the guy finds out that his job is moving to India because of the economics of the situation. Nevermind that the entire team of Indian programmers that take this guy’s place produce inferior work compared to him because they don’t understand America and they don’t understand business. Several of them can work for less than his salary so outsourcing is all the rage!
Now imagine this guy is driving past some of these construction sites with their Bailout signs, with traffic being directed by a Hispanic worker with an orange vest and a 2-way radio. It occurs to him that this year, that worker directing traffic will probably earn more than he will. In fact, he’s sure of it.
I heard of the above story a while back, but it really hit home for me 2 days ago when I happened to be in Sams club (yes I have my moments of weakness). The store was not crowded at all EXCEPT for the area near the entrance where the flat-screen TV’s, computers, digital cameras, and laptops were. That area was so crowded you could barely walk through it. It was right around 5:30pm.
Do you think I saw one type of person more than any other in that area, or do you think it was just a random distribution of people?
Turns out it was a huge congregation of construction workers, which was obvious from their just-off-of-work clothing. The crowd was entirely Hispanic. And they were buying everything they could get their hands on.
Of course I want everyone in this country to be successful, and I’m not a protectionist kind of person. But these fu@*ing politicians are completely reshuffling the financial picture of our country from top to bottom, and giving very little regard to the consequences of their actions.
To all of the programmers and systems engineers and technical support workers out there in America, struggling to keep what you’ve earned and find a direction for tomorrow, I feel for you. And I fight for you.
I don’t feel for you. You guys bitch about making an apparently measly 35+k a year to sit on your asses, all too often write some pretty mediocre code, and want all the benefits and lavish bullshit that goes with it.
I’m going with the grunts here. We are your core business model, we are the first thing that generates profits, and in the end we get treated like total shite while you guys sit at desks and whine.
I make peanuts, sport. Think I’ll gross about 15k this year. I bust my ass in ways you apparently don’t get. You ever walk out of work and collapse? Done it - man up and work *that* hard for zilch.
My vacation was hospital visits. And that’s the penultimate difference between India and here - they will work that hard, they will do that work for shite money, and so far the economics work out in their favor.
Programmers and desk-jockeys are simply not worth that much overhead, just as I am worth whatever the next person off the street will take.
I wish I could make what I probably deserve. No dice.
No, it isn’t unfair - it’s third world markets getting up to speed, still being third world markets - and being more competitive as a result.
Where’s your prior work that is so astounding compared to what someone living in a hovel and using a rented computer to learn and doing 10 times as well is doing right now?
I appreciate your comment and I think that a great many Americans share your opinion. I want to make it clear to you though that you have made a great many assumptions about who I am that are completely and utterly false. I said I fight for the programmers out there that have gotten screwed, I didn’t say I was one. Do you think I’m a programmer because I have a blog? Any moron can do this.
Now that we have that issue out of the way, it’s time to get to the real meat of the situation. Like I said, I think a great many Americans share your beliefs, and that is EXACTLY where we fail. The day we turn on each other is the day we falter, and that is exactly what is happening. The last time it happened we went to war with each other. Your comments are the comments of a person who is so completely wrapped up in your own existence that you could give a sh!t about another American who is different from you in any way. And that is what got us here. And that is what I try to get other Americans to see in themselves and each other.
I picked out the story of the programmer because that’s one I heard recently, my story could just as easily have been about you. Are third world countries going to compete with us? Of course they are. Could our government have done more to ease the transition rather than suddenly shattering the lives of so many who thought they were doing right for themselves and their families? You bet. And it would have cost a fraction as much as bailing at AIG. And don’t even get me started on NAFTA. So yes it makes me mad to see the government shuffle some wealth over to here and move some funds over to there all the while picking and choosing who gets to succeed and who has to find another career, because the entire time they are doing that, people are falling through the cracks and having their lives ruined.
I know you’ve had a hard life, I see it in so many people every day. I have brought people to tears discussing my existence and what I’ve had to overcome to get where I am, but that isn’t what this is about. You tried to make it about that, but you are so wrong. It’s about understanding that each of us is part of the big picture and everything that we put out into the world affects the people around us and eventually comes back on ourselves. When enough Americans understand that, we’ll be ready to choose the right leadership and move forward together.