Don't worry, we got you covered (A Rant)

[The Straight Story]

Tonight I spent time on the phone with my son. He is down in Texas, in the Army now. Has a wife and two really awesome little daughters.

His life has been a lot of ups and downs. From me and him mom splitting up when he was ten, to her dying in the middle of the night when she was 42.

He beats himself up for not having done better over the last few years. He had job issues, lost a car, and so on. He wants to have a better life and do right by his family and himself.

He can't get a new car because his credit is shot. He blames himself for that, but notes that he is now paying things off on time and has a steady job.

And that is what this rant is about. Credit.

You go to work and try to pay your bills, but your company tosses you out in a layoff. Hard times and you choose to pay what you can and still feed your family. Your rating goes down.

Your mortgage might fall behind, your cc bills, whatever. Your failure could mean your family goes hungry, homeless, without medical care, so you do whatever it takes by shuffling your money around. But in the end, you get punished for it by companies because your credit score suffers.

OK.

But what happens when you are a company that screws up, loses billions, hurt the lives of many others and their pensions, the economy, etc? You go and ask congress for a loan and expect to get it. And you do.

You, a company with bad credit and a history of poor decisions. The same companies that will laugh at the little guy/gal who comes in needing a cash infusion because they were late on bills.

You want US to take money out of our paychecks and loan it to you, and you promise this time you won't screw up again. And yet you laugh when we come to you and ask the same thing when we screw up? You threaten to sue us, have bill collectors calling us at all hours, and yet you think you should live by a different set of rules?

And why do the people we elected let you get by with it and give you the money???

Would you give it me? No. You would see me as a bad risk due to my past. And I am fine with accepting that and working hard on my own to fix my issues (some of which were caused by big companies laying me off and killing my income). I'll own up to it and take it day to day until I repair my credit.

But you think you are special. That the rules you set out for everyone else should not apply to you. Maybe you don't think those rules are all that good in the first place then.

You have a history of bad decisions. So does our government come to think of it. To me your credit score is so low you don't deserve a dime - let alone asking for money and then using it for bonuses or higher pay.

The little folks aren't the problem, they didn't get us into this mess. YOUR management of your businesses did. You took a risk, you screwed up.

Be thankful I was not in some position of power when you came asking for a loan, or I would have ask you if you would have given one to someone with similar issues.