The Onion, perhaps a tad bit more reliable than most of the media, debates the burning question: Should we close the National Money Hole? (Fess up, didn’t you always believe that is where much of your tax money was going?)
Content Warning: one instance of scatalogical language.
I, for one, am willing to go on record as against the money hole. Also, I am against taking money from successful companies and giving it to poorly run companies (as long as the poorly-run companies are not a systemic risk).
I second that motion.
Part of the problem with the government dumping money wherever is that the whole point of the economic system we have is to try to increase capital. Businesses try to become successful so that they can provide a living for the owner and for any employees he hires. Part of being successful is expanding to provide more services, hire more employees, and so on. I just state that last because I don’t want to enrage anyone out there who will think I think capital is the only important thing.
The thing is, failing businesses decrease capital. The government funneling money into to them to bail them out might salvage the business, but in many, many cases the result has been merely to prolong the collapse, and effectively sends that money into the void. Now, I won’t argue whether it is wise to offer bailout money in any particular case, but when a business is failing because of bad practices, myopic plans, and greed, offering money to bail them out is exactly like taking money and flushing it down the toilet. Above and beyond the capital lost in the failing business, the bailout money is even more potential destroyed.
That might have been a tongue-in-cheek production, but there’s more than just a kernel of truth there.
Nice One
I second that.
Though if the government wants to bailout the Big-3, the U.A.W. needs to be disbanded or radically altered. My personal opinion is, besides poor management, the UAW is right up there for the cause of the Big-3’s problems. Not even Daimler from socialist heaven Germany wanted anything to do with them when they finally dumped Chrysler.
[…] See also Ryan’s comment on the “National Money Hole” […]
The irony is that if the government were to throw tax dollars in a giant hole and set it on fire, this would probably be better than a lot of what they are doing with it now.
haha blackadder!