Uncle Sam or Santa Claus?

Used to be in this country that businesses which were successful were rewarded and failure in business was punished – that’s how capitalism worked. Now, if you fail, it’s no problem – Uncle Sam using taxpayer dollars will reward you for your failure. Such is the case with the failed investment firm AIG, who plans on paying bonuses to their managers with YOUR money. Let me repeat that – YOUR money, which the government had to borrow, which will eventually be paid through higher taxes – which will prolong any economic recovery.
While our elected leaders reward business failures, we need to consider what signal this sends to businesses that are successful. Whose managers are making the hard but necessary management decisions, taking calculated risks, so they can succeed in turning a profit during these hard economic times.
If you were the hard noised manager of a successful business, and realized that the government was now covering any losses you experienced from making bad decisions or outlandish risks, what incentive would you have to manage efficiently and effectively? Knowing Uncle Sam come in like Santa Claus and bail you out, therefore rewarding you for bad decisions or miss management, you could pay out big bonuses, never have to lay anyone off even though there was not enough work to keep them, and pretend we are still living in economic good times.
We need to tell Uncle Sam put away the red stocking cap and stop helping – it sends the wrong signal to business leaders. Corporate welfare checks have got to stop so the laws of economics can play out during this economic downturn. While painful, it’s the quickest way to get the country back on track.