Common Sense

A couple hundred years ago Thomas Paine wrote in
Common Sense that society is the joining of
people together to accomplish good. Government is
a necessary evil which exists to protect us from
the bad stuff out there, and in doing so protecting
our lives, liberty and properties.

Here's an alarming story reported by Bloomberg Neww,
and the first thing that came to mind was, "where
is the common sense in all this?"

Mark Pittman and Bob Ivry of Bloomberg write,
"The Federal Reserve, Treasury Department and Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation have lent or spent almost $3 trillion over
the past two years and pledged to provide up to $5.7 trillion more if
needed." According to Pittman, these gigantic pledges are nearly
enough to "pay off every home mortgage loan in the U.S., calculated
at $10.5 trillion by the Federal Reserve."

Now that's a bailout package, for every single mortgage holder
in the US to have their mortgage paid off. And it has the
ring of common sense to it. But you've got
to wonder, who's protecting whom here? And where has
all the common sense gone?

Other than writing endlessly to our representatives, the
best thing we can do in either a 'good' or 'bad' economy,
is to invest in our selves. As Dan Kennedy says, there is
no good or bad economy, just different economies.

No one, including the government, will look out for our individual
best interests as we do for our own. Keep learning,
keep studying, and stay sharp at whatever it is you do.
That's common sense, and that's the best protection we have.