Friday, January 02, 2009
More Thoughts on Bailouts
King posted here and I posted here regarding bailouts. After some more reflection, a few other companies who "didn't ask the government to fix my problem" came to mind.
Locally, Toro Company faced bankruptcy in the early 1980's. On their own, they restructured and are again, a significant employer in the Twin Cities. The AT&T of prior generations does not exist today. It incurred all kinds of business and management problems. Then they were sold, resold, restructured numerous times and revived. Today, in a revised form, they are are alive and well.
It just seems that for some reason, today too many have developed the mindset that someone else should bail them out of their messes, often of their own creation. Life is not a constant betterment as my young broker told me in 1997: "We're in a new paradigm; stocks will always go up." Well, he discovered otherwise (and I sold off before the downturn).
As a group and individually we pay a price for our poor decisions and actions. Some institutions have ignored their responsibilities. To believe "only government can solve problems" or to that people are incapable of solving problems without someone else (government, parents, etc.) bailing them out, is denying reality.
What made the west grow and the US great was the attitude that, "Yes, we can do _____"then we did it. For too many years we have taught our children that they are perfect, can do no wrong, are always "A" students. They grow up (note, not necessarily mature) thinking life is a piece of cake - it's not. When hit with a problem, they panic. When we behave in a manner that solving problems on your own is impossible and "ONLY" a government solution will work, we are stifling growth and harming youth. When the 'big boys' of Wall Street, politicians and union and company executives, make mistakes then run for cover and refuse to take the steps to fix their messes, we all pay.
Locally, Toro Company faced bankruptcy in the early 1980's. On their own, they restructured and are again, a significant employer in the Twin Cities. The AT&T of prior generations does not exist today. It incurred all kinds of business and management problems. Then they were sold, resold, restructured numerous times and revived. Today, in a revised form, they are are alive and well.
It just seems that for some reason, today too many have developed the mindset that someone else should bail them out of their messes, often of their own creation. Life is not a constant betterment as my young broker told me in 1997: "We're in a new paradigm; stocks will always go up." Well, he discovered otherwise (and I sold off before the downturn).
As a group and individually we pay a price for our poor decisions and actions. Some institutions have ignored their responsibilities. To believe "only government can solve problems" or to that people are incapable of solving problems without someone else (government, parents, etc.) bailing them out, is denying reality.
What made the west grow and the US great was the attitude that, "Yes, we can do _____"then we did it. For too many years we have taught our children that they are perfect, can do no wrong, are always "A" students. They grow up (note, not necessarily mature) thinking life is a piece of cake - it's not. When hit with a problem, they panic. When we behave in a manner that solving problems on your own is impossible and "ONLY" a government solution will work, we are stifling growth and harming youth. When the 'big boys' of Wall Street, politicians and union and company executives, make mistakes then run for cover and refuse to take the steps to fix their messes, we all pay.
