Tea Bagging in America

OK, so I am going to be really really political right now. Tea baggers can suck it. I don't mean guys who put their nuts on your chin, I mean the Tea Party, the people who think that government is out of control and want lower taxes and small government.  The argument is never about the size of government the argument is about what type of government.

Now I don't like the idea of bailing out the banks and motor industry simply because I think it rewards failure. But I do realize that without the banks or the motor industry the economy would have collapsed. The harsh reality is that, particularly with the banks, we are in a recession made by private sector capitalist greed. Sadly I believe that it can all be traced back to the housing boom. People were buying homes for $500,000.00 and getting 80/20 loans. So with no money down, taking on two mortgages, people who were just so excited to be living the American dream of homeownership got in over their heads. Then the artificially high market value collapsed. Couple that with variable rate mortgages, and you are paying $5,000.00 a month in interest and maybe $1,000.00 on your principal balance. While the banks got richer without having to do any work, as long as people made their mortgage payments, anyone with this kind of a loan became impoverished. When the savings went, and they couldn't get another loan to cover the mortgage, or refinance, coupled with the fact that their $500,000.00 home's current market value is $350,000.00 or less, people started to short sale their homes. But with the influx of short sales came foreclosures. In the case of a short sale or a foreclosure the lending agent takes on a loss. This loss was of their own design by offering loans that no one could afford, by abandoning tried and true business and lending practices in order to make a quick buck. Those that got in while the getting was good made a lot of money and retired. Hopefully their retirement fund wasn't in the stock market.

As the banks took on more debt, they were afraid to lend out money, this directly effected small businesses who need short term loans to cover the cost of their overhead. If mom and pop borrow ten thousand dollars from the bank to buy products from big business to sell to next door neighbor, and the bank won't lend them the ten thousand dollars. Then mom and pop goes under, and big business losses another one of its clients. Trickle down economics doesn't really work, but in today's economy the shit rolls uphill. Hence the bank and motor company bailout.

America used to be the car manufacturers, mostly because Japanese and German car factories were bombed in world war two. With that being said, most people now have Japanese and German cars, some Japanese cars are made in America, but for the most part American cars do not represent the majority of the market. I myself drive a Honda Civic Hybrid, not because I consider myself to be a really green or socially conscious person but because I hate paying for gas and I am poor, so if I can save a hundred dollars on gas a month by having a hybrid, or use the carpool lane to cut my commute in half, I'm going to do that, because it just makes good fiscal sense. If time is money, spending an extra hour on the freeway is a waste of money. American automobiles were behind times. By not keeping up with the current market needs, they became a niche company, which cut into their profits and created the need for a government bailout.

I know I'm a terrible American because I keep my money in a Credit Union and drive a foreign made hybrid, but the fact of the matter is had I not had terrible experiences in domestic cars or with the banking industry, I would drive a Ford and be with Bank of America. But when your cars brake line gets confused and thinks you are applying the brake when the car is off, thus leaking brake fluid which can lead to spontaneous combustion, or you transfer a thousand dollars out of my bank account to some woman in South Dakota via my online banking, that I never registered for without so much as a phone call or letter to see if I had registered for this service, does not instill faith in an institution.

Washington did what they thought was necessary to keep us going. Whether or not you agree with it, the bailouts happened so the real question is what's next?

Health care needs reform as much as the banks do. Insurance companies and drug companies charge exorbitant amounts of money for their goods and services. If the cost was universal to all people then it would not be an issue. I myself have an autoimmune disease. All I need is a hormone supplement everyday. A little pill that keeps me going. That pill with insurance cost between five and ten dollars a month. Without insurance that pill costs me fifteen. Again, pragmatic Lauren, not having insurance costs me nothing. Having insurance would cost me $600.00 a month. As I am a student and a freelancer for all intensive purposes and cannot get employee funded health care. The cost does not outweigh the benefit. Since I am going to school if anything happens I can go to the student health center which is either free or $25.00. Again pragmatism, $25.00 when I need it is a much better option for someone like me, than $600.00 a month just in case.

Tea Baggers are worried about socialism. About government being too big. One of their chants is "gather your armies." Well who do you think pays for the armies? They don't want universal health care because they don't see the need or the benefit, or the cost of the uninsured who run out on their bills. But if we took away life guards, police officers, park rangers, animal control, fire men, city and state parks, Holiday parades, escorts for funeral processions, prisons, prison guards, oh wait they've already privatized prisons at the governments expense, mental health facilities or education, I think they would find something new to complain about.

Everyone has an agenda, and their own set of ideals that need to be met, most are selfish. Tea baggers are just pissed off and want their America back. The problem arises in the definition of America, if you grew up in Tallahassee or in Compton, you would have a very different view on what it means to be an American let alone live in America. Subjective realities trying to dictate for the masses is not the way to run a country as diverse as America.