I’m watching what is going on with the Wall Street bailout. It is not nice, nor is it wise to continue down that road. Welfare for the rich is worse than for the poor. Investors, banks, etc. who saw the housing market as fruit ripe for the picking knew what they were doing and knew the consequences.

They were warned by at least 30 of the states attorneys general as was the Bush administration that bad practices were going on as far back as four years ago. Neither the administration nor the banking industry took action. They enjoyed the ride up the scale to bigger bonuses and profits, but now that they have to suffer the consequences of poor judgment, they want the little guys (aka taxpayers) to foot the bill.

They need to understand that personal responsibility is not only for the welfare mother trying to get along on a few hundred a month but for corporations as well. They got away with moving offshore where they do not have a business other than a P.O. Box to avoid taxes, moving jobs to countries where they got labor for a lot less and kept their U.S. markets, also getting loopholes written into the tax law like the Enron loophole. They need to pay the piper and that should not be passed on to taxpayers or our children.

Republicans talk about personal responsibility and corporations are treated like people, so let’s just do that. They need to eat the bad debts, not us.

Glyn David Lovely

Presque Isle