If the governent really wanted to help out those of us on Main Street (as they are so fond of referring to the average Americcan as-and I must note that I hate both the terms Average American and Mains Street vs Wall Street) they would do things that would actually help them. Does anyone truly believe that the money given to the large corporations that ran themselves into the ground and needed help will pull America out of the downard economic spirial in which it is trapped? I mean let’s be serious here for a moment, and look at the bailout.
It provides money to banks and mortgage companies-money that was paid to the government by tax payers such as myself-with the intention of giving these comapnies capital to lend. That’s right, this money is meant to stimulate lower interest rates banks charge each other, and therefore make them more willing to lend to each other, and to consumers again. How does that help us, really? Sure, it puts money back into the economy, and it pulls these companies out of the fire. But for how long, and to what end?
I mean, what sense does it make to give these corporations money so that they can lend money out, when already people are having difficulty paying the bills they currently have. It is similar to applying, and being accepted, for another credit card, and using that card to pay off other debts. Sooner or later, you are still going to have to pay off that new credit card. Of course interest rates and other fees will make the amount of money you owe more than what you originally borrowed.
My student loan payments are not high, but they are just high enough for me to struggle to meet them. I have a degree, but it has been difficult for me to get a job due to increasingly shaky job market. And even when I did have a so called decent job, I was making about 1600 dollars, after taxes, a month. That’s a decent sum, right? Well, yes and no. Sure, it’s a bit of cash, but when you pay between 500 and 800 dollars per month in rent, then it is singificantly less than it sounds. Add in other bills like utilities, garbage collection, credit card debt and suddenly monthly expenses hit anywhere between 700-1000 dollars. Then add in buying food, gas, clothing, emrgency costs like hopsital visits, and the pool of available monires quickly dwindles. Then of course, there is the 200 dollar student loan payment. Not a lot, like I said, but enough to leave me with about 200 to live on for the month, after all known expenses have been taken care of. 200 dollars is not a lot of money. It won’t let me go to the movies, visit relatives, save, or really make any investments in anything.
400 dollars is not a lot of money either, but at least with that I can put some money aside and start saving for my retirement, since it is obvious that I can no longer rely on the government to help me out with that. And I could use some of it to invest in those companies that the government just gave a ton of money to.
If the Federal Government balied out student loan holders, an immediate source of new money entering the economy would appear. That extra 200 a month could be used to pay bills, buy soem unessential items, be saved or invested. More than that though, it would help bring the moral of the America peole up from the gutter. It would demonstrate that the government really did care about that person they always talk about that seems to live on some street called Main.