Corporate Pigs Lining Up at the Trough

Posted by Rob Viglione

November 18, 2008

by Rob Viglione

The pigs are lining up at the trough! CEO of JC Penny is now lobbying for a federal bailout plan to boost consumer spending and come to the rescue of an ailing retail industry. This is the slippery slope of corporate welfare. You bail out one industry because some lobbyists paint it as “essential” for the survival of America, and then you have every industry lining up for similar handouts. When it comes down to it they can all paint a pretty picture of necessity, referring to employment, revenue, and other stats, but does lipstick on a pig make it anything but a pig?

The United States has turned into a society of deadbeats. We have turned into the world’s largest debtor nation, borrowing from the rest of the world to subsidize unrealistic living standards. The financial collapse is reality’s way of catching up, of telling us that the party is over and we must now live within our means, actually paying down some of our debt. This process is called de-leveraging.

Roughly 70% of GDP is comprised of consumer spending. This is a problem, because it was fueled largely by foreign borrowing - a subsidized and unsustainable lifestyle.

Retailers want nothing more than for the American fantasy to continue, for customers to spend outside of their means indefinitely. Reality dictates that this condition cannot persist. Facing an increasingly difficult task of inducing customers to spend more, retailers have resorted to lobbying government to force them!

Let’s not be fooled by this nonsense. Reality, as measured by market behavior, is telling us we must stop borrowing, become less leveraged, and live within our means. Let’s not allow corporate lobbyists to take taxpayer money to continue unsustainable behavior.

About the Author:

Rob Viglione is a writer, hedge fund manager, real property broker, and Humanist. He recently launched Viglione & Partners Assurance Group, L.P., SoCal real property Advisors, Inc., and founded The Freedom Factory. For more of his writing go to The Freedom Factory.

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