Bailouts of large corporations on the verge of bankruptcy seem to be the order of the day.

Governments are under pressure to give a helping hand to those companies/corporations which have already made their billions in profit and somehow managed to lose it. Stockholders have shared in those rewards and they should be willing to reap what they sow. The risks and the rewards should be shared equally. Sometimes the crops come in, sometimes they don’t. It’s a fact of life most of us have to deal with – what makes big business any different from the rest of us?

Why is it that corporations who cannot make a go of it are propped up to try again? The system itself is in trouble and a good, hard, honest look has to be taken as to whether an unviable, debt-ridden business deserves salvation.

No bailouts are available for the normal person, they just have to deal with it and lose what they have in order to satisfy their lenders. In this case, their lenders are the same banks/financial institutions who are looking for help. Perhaps all the profit they made in years past should be taken into account when deciding whether they deserve or need to be bailed out.

Why is it that we have two sets of rules, one for business and one for the rest of us? If a large company or corporation goes belly up, you can bet your boots the top executives, who led the company to ruin, are not losing a thing. They are still wearing their handmade suits and $800 shoes, flying about in their private jets and going home to weep into their imported silk hankerchiefs. Boo-hoo. It is like a slap in the face to those citizens who end up bailing them out with taxpayers’ money. Is there no decency, no decorum of respect for those little guys who fuel their extravagant lifestyles?

We, as a society, cannot continue to be constant consumers. We worry about global warming and greenhouse gases and much of it is caused by the insatiable need for newer, bigger, better, more up-to-date goods. Maybe we just don’t need a new car every five years or a brand new, larger home every 10.

The auto industry is reeling in the wake of this crisis but they have not made any move to catch up with the times. Their “green” cars are slow off the assembly line, but their large SUVs and even larger, obese trucks are their priority because they make money for the Big Three. Their obscenity is the cause of their woes.

In many ways we have been the architects of our own financial demise. We live on credit, hoping, like a gambler, that the big one is just around the corner. Well folks, the news is out and it isn’t pretty. We are in a financial crisis created by ourselves. We have fueled the situation with our consumerism and our perceived need for the latest and greatest. This is a wake-up call to all of us. The party is over and it is time to clean up the mess by starting in our own homes. The three Rs are even more crucial these days. Reduce your unnecessary spending, Reuse whatever you can and Recycle what you don’t need.

Spending is necessary for the economy, but it should be well thought out and sustainable.