Sunday, June 21, 2009

Appendix to Obama's Bogeymen

I sense that I need to come clean and not be a hypocrite here. When speaking about Obama’s bogeymen I may have sounded as if I don’t care about the people who find themselves in financial problems. I truth is, I do. Once in my youth I found myself out of work once again (seniority layoff) and unable to pay my bills. There are several causes for reasons beyond a person’s control that he finds himself unable to pay his bills. It might be not having enough seniority to hold your job, it could be unexpected health issues, it could be a bubble in the housing market that drops the value of your house to half of what you owe on it. Then on the other hand, it could be that you made some bad choices in life.

I know the pain and heartache of having to swallow my pride and admit that I was not able to make it. I know the shame that I felt that I wasn’t man enough to provide for my family everything that everyone else had. Even though the turndown in the economy meant that there weren’t any jobs to be had, I still felt that I was less than a man because of the financial trouble we were in.

I made the hard decision, I bit the bullet and we lost everything, the house, the furniture, and even the baby’s bed. You know that you’ve sunk low when you watch as they take away your baby’s crib and there is nothing that you can do about it. It’s something that you look back on with shame for many years until you understand that there were no other options. We made the decisions that got us in trouble, we suffered the consequences of those actions and we learned the lessons that needed to be learned.

There were no rich relatives or liberal governmental programs that came in and bailed us out. It changed our lives in the short term for the worse but it modified our lived in the long term for the better.

The point of my listing wasn’t to belittle anyone who finds himself in financial difficulty. I’ve been there and done that. It was to speak against those who feel that it is the government’s job to come into their lives and make everything right. It’s to wake people up that the more you take from the government, the more they take from you.

5 comments:

  1. I guess that's where I lean left (however Obama has gone too far). Through no fault of their own many people have lost everything. What do we do with a family of 4 with no savings and no income. It seems the republicans always want them to dig themselves out and many can't so they go on the welfare roles. That then starts a whole cycle of government dependance. What's the answer?

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  2. Hey guys, thought I'd drop in. You've got some interesting posts going on. Got to say not much diversity though. You guys all live together or what? Looks like you scared Pook away.

    Obama's bogeymen- There wouldn't have been a need for the Bogeymen if the republicans wouldn't have run things into the ground. With Bush as President and a republican congress all they did was raise the deficit to record numbers. No wonder Obama was voted in! Instead of looking at Obama maybe the repubs should look in the mirror and see who really is to blame for this mess.

    Keep those cards and letters coming, I'll be around.

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  3. leftofcenter said...

    There used to be a saying that someone was making a mountain out of a molehill. My father used it when my mother would take some small infraction and turn it into WWIII.

    With Bush as President and a republican congress all they did was raise the deficit to record numbers. Not true, the largest raises were the last two years with a Democratic House.

    I would agree that Bush took an anthill and turned it into a molehill of national debt. However, Obama has taken a molehill and turned it into Mt. Everest. Bush’s last two years and Obama’s first six months were with a majority of democrats running Congress.

    Neither President can run up the deficit without the Congress passing the bills. Congress writes the checks; all the President does is sign them. Let’s place them blame where it belongs, Congress, both Democrat and Republican. Let’s not forget that the Democrats passed the stimulus bill without even reading it.

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  4. GiveOachance said...

    It seems the republicans always want them to dig themselves out and many can't so they go on the welfare roles.

    I don’t know which republicans you are talking with but I don’t know any that feel that way. We have a safety net to help that family of four get back on their feet. But it is suppose to be a temporary safety net if there isn’t a permanent disability involved.

    Having said that, the safety net shouldn’t provide so many benefits that the person can make more income on welfare than by working for a living. It may mean that the family of four have to sell their house and move into an apartment for a few years until they do get back on their feet. It may mean that they don’t take a vacation to anywhere this year even though their working neighbors travel to Disneyland.

    We have gone from the “me generation” to the me adults and families. Too many people feel that they have a right to a big house, new car, stylish clothes, vacations every year, flat screen TVs with cable plus all of the extras. Then when something goes wrong, they cling to the material goods as if they were what are important in like. People act as if they have a right to the public dole and to keep their expensive toys and lifestyle too.

    It’s a shame but I sense that too many parents never told their children about the harsh realities of life. Every story doesn’t have a happy ending. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. At some point in time, someone needs to tell people “grow up”.

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  5. Left of center...nice to have another opposing view, I wish we had more.

    I've heard the left use the arguement of Bush's record deficit...which maybe was true. But that arguement doesn't hold water any longer after Lord Obama has taken office. Maybe you guys need pictures to help you out! Check out this link...

    http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/24/bush-deficit-vs-obama-deficit-in-pictures/

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