Fiscal Responsibility: You’ve Got to Know When to Hold’em and Know When to Fold’em January 22 2009
More Comments Regarding Boscov’s Bailouts, Bank Bailouts, and More! Could It Get Any Worse?
Written by Roberta Biros (David Biros, Contributor)
I’m finally willing to watch the news again. With images of the inauguration behind us, I felt that it would be alright to turn on Fox News this morning. It was 9AM when Fox’s “America’s Newsroom” announced its headlines “Projected Bank Bailout $3 – 4 Trillion” as follows:
“Top lawmakers and treasury officials now suggest that America’s taxpayers will have to spend between $3 and 4 trillion in order to rescue American banks. That is $3-4 trillion in direct spending. These are not guarantees, they are not commitments to cover future loses, this is money that is going out of the treasury in the coming months.”
(It was later stated that the sources of this information were Sen. Chuck Schumer and Paul Volcker. )
Wow. What a way to start the day!
I published a blog post yesterday titled “Rubber Stamp Leadership: The Same Mistakes . . . Over and Over Again!” that discussed the current Pennsylvania bailout of Boscov’s and Mercer County’s bailout of the Woodland Place nursing facility. The post referenced a commentary by Nathan A. Benefield that was posted by the Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg titled “Boscov’s Bailout is Bad for Business”. In my post I asked the simple question, “So, when will it all stop?” Based on today’s news (above) I would suggest that there is no end this fiscal irresponsibility, and the numbers are becoming staggering and incomprehensible. We are now talking TRILLIONS.
I have a very simple statement of wisdom regarding fiscal responsibility (which was made famous by Kenny Rogers in 1978) . . .
“You’ve got to know when to hold them . . . know when to fold them . . . know when to walk away . . . know when to run”
Now this isn’t rocket science, and I am surely not a rocket scientist. Fiscal responsibility is a matter of common sense.I am responsible for running my household and my own small business. Every month we are forced to make financial decisions using no tools other than our own “noggins”. About two years ago, my husband started a small business in hopes of generating additional income for our household. About a year later, we ran the numbers and found that the business did not generate sufficient income to pay for the associated taxes and numerous business expenses (like business and liability insurance). We made the “common sense” decision to FOLD the business and cut our losses while we were ahead. Simple, right? . . . you need to know when to “hold’em” and know when to “fold’em”. We made the decision quickly and without hesitation.
Now, let us take a look at the Boscov’s situation.
Boscov’s was struggling. Instead of cutting their losses (“fold’em”), they decided to try to finance their way out of debt (“hold’em”). Unfortunately, no right-minded financial institution in the private sector would lend them they money that they needed. Instead, Ed Rendell decides that the State of Pennsylvania should “help” Boscov’s by offering a “no-risk loan”. Then the outrageous step is made to push that financial responsibility onto the Counties. They took Boscov’s problem and made it the problem of already cash-strapped County governments. At this point, the Counties needed to “know when to run”.
My question is “Who will bail out the Counties in the end?”
No one is concerned about bailing out Mercer County after Woodland Place failed to pay back it’s bond debt. State Legislators Sen. Bob Robbins, Rep. Michele Brooks, Rep. Dick Stevenson, and Rep. Mark Longietti have not brought $8 million back from Harrisburg to keep Mercer County out of bankruptcy. Ed Rendell is not losing sleep about the financial problems of Woodland Place in Mercer County. Why? Because they all know that the tax payers of the County will foot the bill in the end. County Commissioners recently raised County taxes to push the debt to each and every household in Mercer County—-simple.
Mark my words . . . the same will be true when Boscov’s fails to pay on their bond debt too. Harrisburg will not be concerned about bailing out the handful of Pennsylvania Counties that signed onto the bond. It is shameful.
If Ed Rendell wants to bailout his friends at Boscov’s with this so called “risk free” loan, he should do it with his own money. Unfortunately, if the loan were actually as “risk free” as they claim, Ed Rendell and his Philadelphia Lawyer friends would have taken on the loan “opportunity” and we would have never heard a word about it.
Ed Rendell . . . if you want to bail out a company, I’ve got a wonderful small business in Mercer County who had to pull money out of our savings account last month to pay our mortgage. That business is “my business”, and I’m still waiting for my bailout. Like other Pennsylvanians, I’m struggling to keep my head above water as it is . . . I can’t afford to bailout Boscov’s or any other personal friend of the Governor’s office.
The sad part of the story is the list of who will eventually be hurt by all of this tom-foolery. First, the County Commissioners in the Pennsylvania Counties that have signed onto the Boscov’s Bailout will soon be GONE. Much like former Mercer County Commissioners Ken Seamans, Gene Brenneman and Olivia Lazor who signed up Mercer County for the financial responsibility of Woodland Place in 2002, the Commissioners who have signed their Counties on for the Boscov’s Bailout will disappear from the political scene . . . and deservingly so.
Who are the REAL victims? . . . the answer is . . . taxpayers in the Counties that signed on for the Boscov’s Bailout. They will eventually be left with the debt of the unpaid bond.
Perhaps I’m over simplifying, but it seems so straight-forward to me! The answers are as close as day-time television. Have none of these County Commissioners ever watched “Judge Judy”? I wish I had a nickel for every time she said “what idiot co-signs for somebody else?”. Just think about that for a minute. People only need co-signers because they have BAD CREDIT.
Judge Judy has another great line that is worth repeating here. “Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining.” In other words, we need to be smart enough to see these obvious problems for ourselves and quit listening to lines like “the loan is virtually risk-free”. We need to spot the lies before the damage is done.
As always, just my opinion.
~Roberta Biros, Mercer County Conservatives
Perhaps I should start closing my blog posts with another fine quote from Judge Judy as follows: “Of course I’m right; I’m always right. I’m like a truth machine.”
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