What is Fair?

President Barack Obama has repeatedly spoken of the sacrifice all Americans will have to make in order to get this country back on track. Now, as he begins to take steps to meet the challenge of restoring our economy and building a strong foundation for our future, some people are calling his initiatives unfair.

Was it fair that this country's debt more than doubled over the past eight years? Was it fair that unnecessary and wasteful spending was allowed to continue during that period? Was it fair that largely unregulated banks were allowed to make huge profits on complicated and obscure money schemes that still today plague the world's economy? Was it fair that mortgage-lenders preyed on aspiring homeowners, lured with visions of having a piece of the American dream? Was it fair that speculators flipped properties faster than a Roger Clemens fastball? Was it fair that some homeowners decided to reach beyond their means in an effort to have a bigger house and a huge payoff someday? Was it fair that, while all this was going on, Congress had devolved into bitter political gridlock based on political agendas and egos? America and most Americans chose not to acknowledge the financial bubble was growing, that the system was wildly over leveraged and that it could explode at any moment. What was everyone thinking?

Now all Americans are on the hook big time. The government has thrown billions of dollars at a failed banking system in an effort to stabilize the economy. Is that fair? The government has bailed out insurance companies. Is that fair? The government has allocated billions of dollars to American automobile companies with failed business plans. Is that fair? Now the government has passed a multi-billion dollar stimulus bill to preserve or create jobs. Is that fair? Meanwhile, plants are closing, 401K's are shrinking, housing values are declining, employment lines are growing as is the number of Americans who do not have proper health care. Is that fair?

In his proposals, President Obama has tried to balance what is best for the country with what is fair for each individual. This is a nearly impossible task. Take Obama's housing plan, which could cost taxpayers as much as $275 billion, but may help as many as nine million homeowners avert foreclosure. Critics are yelling "unfair" because the plan is rewarding "bad behavior." But haven't we already rewarded bad behavior? It was even suggested that a website be created where Americans could vote on whether they "really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages." Sure, and maybe we can vote on all those other government bailouts too!

These are not ordinary times, so extraordinary steps must be taken. While differences of opinion should be heard, at the end of the day actions must be taken now. President Obama was elected to lead our country in a new direction. He is quickly addressing the numerous problems that afflict our country and threaten its future. His remedies are not perfect for each American. It will take time; it will take patience. But it is time to lower our voices, reduce partisan bickering and self-interest. It is time to step up and increase our willingness to move forward as one nation.

Recently Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster, declared, "It's the end of a certain kind of selfish capitalism." He continued, "(This is a time) when we have to reflect...on what are the things that nourish the values, the virtues, we want to have." He concluded, " Capitalism needs to be underpinned with regulation and moral purpose."

Let us all reflect on what made our country great as we try to make America healthy again.

Comments

[RGeorge]

On another note, had our Washington elite put the bailouts into the mortgage of every household or and IRA if debt free, everyone would have benefited from the bailout as the money would flow through we the people manditorially to the top where the bailout went anyway. Stupid is as stupid does. The cost of $20,000.00 per adult over 18 and one such credit for children would have cost the treasury about 6 trillion dollars and gave seniors an HSA/IRA for helping out with the inflation that is coming.

If we knew of how much the federal reserve has put into circulation and the amount this congress is itself borrowing into circulation, the 6 trillion will seem to be a much better number. How many of those people struggling would be helped by an $60,000.00 stimulus by paying down their mortgage and setting their loans at 4% one time only for thirty years. That would have given time for the radical tax structure change to take effect and for jobs to come back to America. It is not too late. This last Stimulus has provided for a safety net to get the people through this coming dark hour. Let us have a path to stability and growth rather then following What Putin says is a huge mistake, socialism

[RGeorge]

We need to change to the consumption tax and in Congress there is a bill that was designed by many highly intelligent doctorates. The Bill HR 025 is known as the Fair Tax Plan. It is a BI-partisan Plan with a growing grassroots support. The plan includes a provision for sending everyone a check of about $700.00 a month for a family of four, a progressive tax return on poverty wage regardless of whether one has worked or not and regardless of income. Products American Made will drop in price with the removed taxes hidden in them by our current tax system.

Fair Tax will do one thing that we need most and that is create a demand for employees that will offer every individual an living wage and create a competition by the large returning influx of manufacturing we lost out to from the stumbling free trade policy. This is not isolationism, it is fair trade. .

[RGeorge]

The Free enterprise capitalism is the only system to show prosperity, but like all systems, it depends on a honest ethical Society to work. In reality capitalism is the strongest system to stand against the abuse of mankind, however there is still a need to keep protection of a fair days wage for a fair days pay, unions.

The fault of our current fiscal collapse is that free enterprise has not been free for a long time. The tax structure that has brought this Nation down from it's mountain top of wealth is near it's end of destroying the American Dollar, thus our economic system is about to grind to a halt. We must be bold in fixing the real problem, the ability to compete with foreign imports.

When we put into place free trade, we were under a tax structure created with closed borders. Now, with that same tax structure and the manifold increase of spending by the Federal Government by both the corporate elites and the big government proponents on the left, we have now an avenge 44% excise tax on domestic production (IRS taxcode) while imports are being subsidized by their governments and coming into America duty and tax free.

We need to change to the consumption tax and in Congress there is a bill that was designed by many highly intelligent doctorates. The Bill HR 025 is known as the Fair Tax Plan. It is a BI-partisan Plan with a growing grassroots support.

[TIME]

Of course none of this is fair, life isn't fair. if we have to let some "get away with it" to get us all off the hook, so be it.
Where did Americans get the idea that they didn't have to pay, to be the best country in the World. We are in this mess because we have not been paying our bills all along. I'm sure nobody wants to pay more taxes, but then we should have cut our spending.
I blame the Republicans. It's their ideology of lower taxes and smaller government, that they have not lived up to. They have had most of the power in government for the last 30 years. The eight years Democrats held the White House, we came closest to financial sanity.
"No new taxes" has been the pledge for Republicans. Fine, then why didn't they cut spending?
When will this generation (as every other generation has before us) make the hard sacrifice needed to leave this country in good health to the next generations? The sacrifice needed now is a financial one, not a military one.
What's not fair (to the future of our country) is that we have been so selfish and irresponsible.
Wake up America; there never was and is not now, a free lunch. Pay now, or pay later. By what right do we leave this country in worse shape than it was left to us by our parents, grandparents, or great grandparents?