I hate to break it to you (the tax-payer bailout myth)

Sometimes I wish we had a dictatorship in this country. Because if we did, then we wouldn't have to worry about dumb things like elections, and instead we could worry about fixing our economy without having to play the blame game. I am honestly sick and tired of hearing the phrase "bailed out by the taxpayers." Let me explain:

The government gave money to the big banks to help keep them afloat. Since this happened, they have constantly reminded the banks and the finance industry that they "owe the tax payers" for "bailing them out." This is completely false, and a blatant lie. When someone says that they owe someone for something, by definition, that means that they have received something from them.... correct? Okay we agree on that. Now to say that the "bankers" owe the average American for bailing them out implies that the average American has contributed some sort of tax money above and beyond their normal tax burden. Again, this is completely false, and a blatant lie. This myth is nothing more than a political weapon.

The government has a deficit. This means that the large vault where it keeps all its money is EMPTY. There is no taxpayer money to bail out anyone with. What the government is doing is printing money and borrowing money to finance the bailout. Middle class America has contributed NOTHING to the bailout, and that is a fact. Now, what happens next? Well, as I said in my previous post, the Obama Administration will raise taxes on the rich (including "bankers") and start recovering the bailout money - meaning that the entire burden of the bailout rests on the people who are being bailed out. That actually seems rather fair to me, no?

Instead of admiting to this and calling it a day, the government is using the "bailout" as leverage to justify ridiculous things like the mortgage "reduction" plan and a new "bank tax" (literally, just an additional tax on banks because they "earn too much money"). Why? To get votes. While the nation's top 5% pay just over 60% of the taxes in this country (this is fact), they only have 5% of the votes (obviously). Bleed them for their money, raise taxes even more, and then villainize them in the public eye. What a country we live in, huh?

So I hope that this whole tax-payer myth thing has been settled. Sorry for not being funny, I just wasn't feeling it today. If you wanna see something funny, check out the Google Blog, where the CEO has put up a very funny April fools joke.

Mo out.