It’s a sad day for The United States of America when the government bails out Wall Street, and they use the money to pay corporate executives bonuses!
It was very generous of the folks from “Main Street.” After all, it is the holiday season, and it’s better to give than receive.
According to an article posted on Yahoo! news:
“Crisscrossing the country in corporate jets may no longer fly in Detroit after car executives got a dressing down from Congress. But on Wall Street, the coveted executive perk has hardly been grounded.
Six financial firms that received billions in bailout dollars still own and operate fleets of jets to carry executives to company events and sometimes personal trips, according to an Associated Press review.”
It’s reassuring to read that the billions in bailout have not disrupted the flight patterns of these corporate executives. Thank goodness oil and gas prices have declined. More importantly, they received their Christmas bonuses before the BIG holiday. Whew, they dodged a bullet. Imagine the look on their wives, girlfriends, or life partners face if they only received a 1-carat diamond ring!
Yet, our troops who are serving this country around the world must buy their own socks. You read that correctly; our men and women must purchase their own socks. This is no joke people. You would think that a government that is able to give Wall Street billions in dollars would be able to provide socks for its own military personnel.
This information was brought to light thanks to the Southwest Institute of the Healing Arts. They have a program called Heart and Sole which is collecting socks for our men and women in the military. The goal is to collect 10,000 pairs of socks.
My family has a strong military background. In fact, I found out I have a cousin in the Pentagon. No one knew this. Of course, this is my dad’s side of the family so that makes sense. In our family it was “keep things to yourself and do not speak to anyone outside of the family about family business.” It sounds more Godfatherish than military.
My dad and his brothers served in the Army and their uncles served in World War II. Like so many women, my grandmother did her part and went to work while our boys were overseas. She also saved tin foil and lard in addition to recycling plastic and glass.
It’s a shame that our government cannot provide something as basic as socks to our men and women in the military. As my father would say, “where are your priorities?”
I know I can sleep better at night knowing that all of the executives on Wall Street and two of the BIG 3 automakers were bailed out with billions of taxpayers’ dollars. At least I will not have to worry about this going into the New Year.
We in America have our values in perfect order: Wall Street and executives first, military second, and Main Street last. It’s good to know that all of the corporate executives will have a “banner” holiday season. I myself feel fabulous knowing that my tax dollars were able to provide Wall Street executives with bonuses and holidays in the Hamptons. Have a great 2008 holiday season!