An Aspie Perspective on the Bailout Misery

These bailouts don't feel quite right. The media rhetoric supports the fact that we are paying to keep important companies afloat. Are not these companies and banks just people like you and me that have become extremely wealthy? Are these companies badly run or is there a deeper issue?

Let me explain. Average Joe works hard to save and he makes good investments. He eventually builds up a small business into a larger one. Now he is considered rich amongst his peers. Joe decides to take his influence to the next level to reach for a wealthier status. He achieves it by buying other businesses and having them make the income for him. He thus gets the benefit of the wealthier life style.

Most people know the above description as the American Dream. It will vary amongst different people due to how much they can stomach. In one way or another the richest of us have achieved this in great measure. The richer a person gets, the more they become responsible for the livelihood of others; because they own the businesses everyone works at which pays groceries, utilities, mortgages, and etc. Most rich understand this circle of life very well. They also understand that there are those of their peers that are unscrupulous and take advantage. Believe it or not, there are more good than bad. This is the only way we have made it this far. Eventually the bad does get tossed out on their ear. I don't think badly run business is to blame for the economy.

I will quote the "Spiderman Movie" here. "With power, comes responsibility." This power can be displayed politically. We all know the wealthy have an inside track politically. For example, Joe's company provides money to certain legislators that will support his particular money making endeavors. Joe is thinking, "If you have the influence, you might as well try to use it your advantage." There is nothing wrong with that because what benefits Joe, benefits those who work for Joe. This is the capitalist system at work.

Where, then, are the wheels coming off? The responsibility within our current system is to "achieve much so that you can benefit others". We have our heart in the right place but the tools we use in this endeavor is our money, power, and influence. Interestingly these are the same things that corrupt individuals. The question would be, can we have a society like ours without those elements in it and still be successful or do we have to sell our souls to achieve the things we have achieved?

I agree that the system needs to change but will it change enough to eliminate the very things that corrupt us the easiest? I doubt it. Maybe we could try, selflessness, compassion, kindness, or charity. Theses won't corrupt us at all but just don't seem to have the same punch as power or respect.

If the basic fundamentals of the system are not changed, in another hundred years our kid's , kids', kids, will have to deal with the same thing again. This will occur over and over until one generation decides as a people that they will sacrifice the money, power, and/or influence for a less corrupting system of economics, government, and life.

There in lies the "catch-22". The only individuals able to change the system intrinsically are the ones that currently have the money, power, and influence now. They would have to sacrifice the very thing that is giving them the platform to speak. It makes no sense and it will never happen individually. It wouldn't happen nationally either. It would have to occur throughout the world at the same time.

Remember when you were kids and you had something you wanted to trade with another kid you didn't trust all that well? The only way you would do the trade is if you traded your items at the "same time!" The international trade agreements all around the world keep those same corrupting qualities as its underpinnings and those would be a bureaucratic hell to change.

I am trying to remain an optimist and I will watch how this plays out. Due to mankind's stubborn ways, I look toward a spiritual solution to this. Other folks hold faith that mankind will think themselves out of it. I hope they don't kill half of us in the process. Either way, try to see it as a journey and hold on tight. This year has just started and we haven't seen anything yet.