"Oh, I thought I might need some money for the movie tonight," he says, "so I took your wallet just in case."
Which of these would your answer be:
- "Oh, sure."
- "I'll give you the money, but I'd like to have my wallet back."
- "Roommate, give me my wallet back right now. And, don't do this again. Then we can talk about how much money you get."
Number two corresponds, in more ways than one, to the current plan that was almost approved by the Senate and congress yesterday. Let's blithely forget that it was naughty, in the first place, for Paulsen to ask to steal our wallet by suggesting we give him the money to dole out, free and clear, to anyone he chose. But then we give him the money anyway, perhaps with some caveats about how to spend it. You're a chump if you picked this alternative. Yes, you will have your wallet, but it will be perpetually empty.
Number three - let's have a sit down about the very idea that the Bush administration, in the person of Paulsen, even contemplated for a millisecond, that it had the power, and the right, to hand out money to anyone - friends, foes, and others - with absolutely no plan presented and no accountability.
Once that long conversation is done - and Paulsen replaced as a good will gesture to clear the air - we can move on to talk about why we suddenly need to "give away" nearly a trillion dollars for what might or not help the economy.
There is one more important lesson to glean from the roomate analogy. Roomates do not give their money away to each other. And there lies the path to an acceptable solution. Lend the money to institutions with cash flow problems, and have them pay it back later.
Now, back to our regular problem - er program.
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