Politically, I consider myself to be a pretty Left kind of person. There’s someone at work who I would consider to be very Right. And the other day, we found something to agree on, which I found pretty scary (and amusing).
We were talking about the extension of the Home Buyer’s Tax Credit. I had to confess that while personally it had worked out well for me, for the country I think it was a bad move. In fact, I consider all of the recent money dumps into “fixing the economy” have been bad choices. Bailouts for Banks, Cash for Clunkers, and coming soon to an appliance store near you, Cash for Coolers (credits for purchasing new, more energy efficient refrigerators and possibly other appliances). Not to mention the tax credit for home purchases.
We are paying for these things through our taxes. When the government talks about billions of dollars, I can’t help but feel the pain at tax time. And where are the results these cash band-aids were supposed to provide? I haven’t seen them, and now our unemployment rates are up.
I honestly don’t follow politics very closely. I don’t read about this stuff in my every waking moment, and I don’t feel prepared to make a deep political argument right now. But I feel in my heart of hearts that the way to fix this mess was not to start by bailing out a car maker.
Some things you don’t need to mess with to fix them.
There is a natural balance to things, and the Earth will do some pretty crazy things to get back in balance. So what if one (or all) of the Big Three Auto Makers failed? So what if the American way of life changed beyond anyone’s experience? Progress does not come without change, and change (while occasionally uncomfortable) is not bad.
We are out of balance. It’s time to let nature fix things. Stop pouring money out – money we don’t have. Maybe nobody can afford to buy a car anymore. Maybe builders can’t afford to build new houses and we’re *gasp* forced to live with the structures we have. Maybe we step back a little bit and reorient into smaller, self-sufficient communities that don’t require such severe taxation to survive.
Am I ready for what it will take to get back in balance? Probably not. But I don’t want to think about what will wait for my kids if I don’t accept what needs to be done and roll with it. Fighting for the way life’s always been just because it’s the only thing I know is a pretty lousy reason to fight. Just because it’s all I know doesn’t mean it’s the way it needs to be.
So how do you fix some things that are broken? Leave them the hell alone.