The Fool? more like The Drool... Saturday, March 30, 2008 The one thing you never mention is what? You think it's the one thing you never mention? What about the fact that, every time you mention a "bailout" or a "stimulus" or a "recovery" etc, it's always a tax on somebody? I could never imagine my situation being worse than it is now. I live in California. I work in a high-paying profession, and in my area the unemployment rate is 15%. The house I live in will probably be repossessed. Most of my friends have lost their jobs. They are being foreclosed on, are homeless and have no food. We will have to move to be with my mother, who is a full-time caregiver for my disabled grandmother, who is in her 80s. I am 30 years old and have nothing to show for all the years I have lived. I have spent my whole life in college so I could go to work, have a house, and maybe a family. Now I have nothing and no way to get it back. I hope you don't think that when you speak of stimulus packages and bailout packages you mean that you are giving money to the people who are affected. I would be willing to bet that 90% of the money will go to the top 1% who are getting richer and richer. You don't think that the corporations in this country, which produce almost all the products, are paying taxes, do you? I have heard it said that the average CEO of a large corporation pays no taxes at all, but I doubt it. I really do not see where all of this money will come from. Unless there is a big increase in taxes and a corresponding decrease in prices the average person on my block will have a very bad time. It doesn't take a genius to know that our government has borrowed more money that it has been able to pay back. And, the problem is that it is a very irresponsible borrower, doesn't plan on ever paying it back, and there is no penalty for it. If we, the people, want to start paying back all the money that we owe, we would need to raise taxes. We cannot keep our current taxes without borrowing more money, and this is a terrible precedent. People who voted for Obama to save America are going to get exactly what they voted for. Just take my word for it, because I know you aren't going to listen to an accountant. I have heard of companies buying up so much bad debt that the banks are going to have to do it. This is not what we need. I understand that some businesses need to be bailed out because they are in trouble, but that is not the reason we are in trouble. The reason we are in trouble is that businesses are borrowing so much money because they can that they are going to get into serious trouble. They have been in trouble already, but they were bought off by the bailouts. What is a stimulus? What is a bailout? To me it is a tax on somebody. And, when you tell me I need a stimulus package to "save jobs", I can guarantee you that that is exactly what you are going to get. It is a tax, I know that, I just want to know what it is, but you keep hiding it under the guise of, "oh, it's just a stimulus package". You can tell me to get a job, but all that means is that you can save yourself some money, or you can get me a job and then you'll get some of the money that I make. I don't want a job. I want a living wage. I want my job back. I want the money that I earned, back. I am going to work my hardest, and you can go to your job, and you can work your hardest. But, why should I have to? "There are only two tragedies in life. One is not getting what you want. The other is getting it." -Oscar Wilde I am not sure if I have really ever met anyone who works at the local level. We are getting very, very high unemployment here in my area, and very little hope. We are being foreclosed on, evicted and are having food put out on our doorsteps. My friends are not just unemployed, they are being foreclosed on. What do you think is going to happen when they can't pay their bills? Their credit is going to be ruined and they are going to lose everything. And, if they lose everything they have no way to get it back. When I was growing up I never imagined my situation would be like this, I was just going to go to school, get a job and get a house. Now, I feel like I am in a bad movie.