Worms sliding down a hill

When the federal government proposed a $700 billion bailout of financial lending institutions in September 2008 as a way to stave off massive closures and bankruptcies, I said to myself that this was only the beginning. Once Uncle Sam handed over the bailout money, it was only a matter of time before other industries came crawling to Washington, D.C., on their hands and knees like street beggars looking for spare change to buy their liquor with.
Sometimes, I just hate being right.
No sooner had President Bush and Congress passed legislation approving the bank bailout then other entities began to whimper. We heard from the National Automobile Dealers Association, the Big Three automakers, as well as the state of California and several county and municipal governments seeking life preservers to stay afloat amidst budget deficits threatening to burst their infrastructures.
A can of worms had just been opened and the federal government was about to create a slippery slope.
It happened just before Christmas 2008 when President Bush authorized $350 billion in bailout money to the Big Three automakers. The bill had actually been killed in Congress, but the President gave the auto industry the money anyway.
Now, as late as this week, another industry has come forward to claim its share of the federal coffers: pornography, of all things.
What’s next, the Aryan Nation, the Klu Klux Klan, ELF, La Raza, NAMBLA and other extremist groups?
Heck, if Uncle Sam so much as even considers giving cash to porn kings, then he might as well just start giving money to any and all fringe elements of society—regardless of their levels of depravity. If the perverts in the porn industry can get a hand-out from Uncle Sam, then those who practice bestiality or man-boy love probably could, too.
The worms are out of the can and sliding down the slope fast.
If Congress actually bails out porn, then there’s no limit to how low it will go to usher in the era of American socialism.
That porn kings would even have the gall to beg from Uncle is an insult to the taxpayers, who have to foot the bill. Haven’t we always been told by the makers and purveyors of smut that it is market driven and that the perverts are simply providing what the people want?
Well, if that’s the case, then evidently the people don’t want porn any more, because they aren’t buying it and the perverts are losing money. And this is why they are now going to Washington to beg for bailout funds.
Without being too candid here, if porn is in jeopardy of disappearing from the marketplace, then hallelujah and amen. Let it go out of business. America would have been better off without it to begin with. Good riddance.
Quite frankly, I never endorsed or even understood the logic behind the federal bailouts in the first place. What makes our elected officials and the industries being bailed out think that they will be able to remain afloat with bailout money if the American consumer is not buying? Just how long will the Big Three stay in business after all the bailout money is used up on infrastructure if the consumer is not yet ready to buy a new car? A few months, perhaps.
Then it will be back to the floor of the House, begging for more money.
Bailing anybody out in a sick economy is like trying to bail water out of a boat riddled with holes. It is futile.
I have to wonder whether or not it would be better in the long run for companies to file bankruptcy, reorganize and then start over, rather than continue to patch holes.
All the bailout money does is give temporary relief. It’s kind of like putting ointment on a burn: The relief will eventually wear off and the wound will start hurting again, requiring more ointment.
What happens when that money runs out and the bailed out companies are still in the red? Will they come groveling back for more? How many times will this need to happen before businesses are in the black again?
There’s a vicious cycle being started with the bailouts—a cycle of dependency on government to provide the funds to keep operating.
Sooner or later, such a cycle becomes permanent. And when that happens, we no longer have free markets, but rather a government-controlled economy…otherwise known as socialism, which is an authoritarian, and not republican, form of government.
Do we really want to go down this road? I caution against it.
But I fear any warnings, either coming from me or elsewhere, may be too little too late. The can has been opened, the slope is slippery and the worms are sliding fast down the hill toward ruin.
I’m afraid that we may be looking at the sunset of republican democracy, the cornerstone for which has been free-market capitalism. As the free market goes, then so goes the United States of America and its beloved republic.
At that point, the light from the city on the hill will cease to shine and hope will fade with it.
Long live the Peoples Republic of Amerika.