Upfront, I’m no economist, and I know each side can paint a picture that seems right (what if we don’t help, will it send more into poverty…and if we do, what is to keep it from happening again, etc)… but we are sort of in trouble on both fronts if you will, with either decision. But I’ve been pretty sickened…strong word…but that’s how I feel about this whole government bailout.
I know financial gurus like Warren Buffett are for the bailout. But I believe that just because something is financially right, does not make it ethically right. Otherwise we could justify all kinds of terrible behavior and decisions based on financial choices and not ethical ones…not the right ones.
So I thought I would leave you with some words by people who say it better.
“It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger. That’s mad, that is mad.”
“Bankruptcy is a serious business and we all know people who have lost their jobs. But this is moral bankruptcy.”
– Lead singer of U2 Bono speaking today during day two of the Clinton Global Initiative.
Here is more of the context of the quote.
And then I will close with this quote by Stanley Hauerwas given during his talk “The American Empire And The Kingdom Of God.”
“Government bail-outs are socialism for the rich.”
