It is 7pm at night, you and your family are settling down to the nightly ritual of the family watching their favorite TV shows. Tonight is extraordinarily special because you took off work early stopped at Best Buy and purchased a brand new 50 inch plasma screen TV. The fiddling with wires, cables and instruction manuals are over. It’s just you the family and high definition glory.
Then the phone rings.
“Hello?”
“Yes sir, this is your bank. The one you have your mortgage, bank account and several credit cards with.”
“Uh yes….”
“Listen, you are on a tele-conference bridge with shareholders & other bank customers who have money invested here at the bank. We have recently updated all terms and conditions for money lent here at this bank. Sir I would like to share with you tonight these new terms and conditions.“
“Ok” you tentatively reply
“First of all we want to remind you that the home you own, the car you drive and many other items you possess were purchased with the banks money via your mortgage, auto loan and credit cards. We have recently conducted a poll of our investors and share holders to solicit their opinions regarding the use of bank money by the people who borrow it.
After exhaustive research and feedback from investors we have developed a set of criteria that you must now follow so as long as you are taking money from this bank.”
“Hey but wait a minute…” you interrupt.
“No sir, you wait a minute, may I remind you as long as you are using the money of this bank the people who have money invested in this bank have a vested interest in the choices you make and under these new terms and conditions now reserve the right to influence your individual decisions that you make within your house hold. Keep in mind you can pay us back in full right now and be free of all of the terms and conditions of borrowing money here at this bank. Sir do you wish to pay off all of your debts today?”
Obviously, you cannot so you reply, “uh no..”
“Ok Sir, if you will just listen we have a short list of terms and conditions that must be met if you wish to continue to borrow money from our bank. These terms and conditions are designed to help you save additional money that can be paid back to the bank.
1. You must take back the money you pay your children for good report cards. These in our view are unjust bonuses. You shouldn’t be using borrowed money to pay children for what they should be doing anyway and that is making good grades in school.
2. Furthermore, you must take your children out of the private school and send them to a local public school. Not all of our investors can afford to send their children to private schools and therefore you should not be using their money to give your children this unfair advantage.
3. You must trade in your Sport Utility Vehicle for a hybrid or more fuel efficient car. We understand you have four children but we must all make sacrifices and this will bring your family closer together literally and figuratively. The money you save in gas should be used to pay back the bank.
4. You must allow us to install a “smart” thermostat in your house to ensure you are not spending too much of the bank’s money needlessly running an air conditioning unit during peak hours. Again, we sympathize that you live in Texas but you are using the bank’s money.
5. You must stop wasting your money on a PPO and switch to an HMO of our choosing. The investors of this bank view the extra money spent on a PPO as a frivolous waste. Choice of doctor is a luxury you are paying for with the bank’s money and our HMO of choice will make excellent decisions on your behalf.
Sir, do you understand the terms and conditions?”
How would you respond? You’d politely tell the guy on the other end of the line where he could go and move your liabilities to a bank with friendlier terms and conditions.
Now replace “The Bank” with “the US Government”. This (and much more) is exactly what is happening to all of us collectively right now in Washington DC through unprecedented and dangerous legislation that has been passed in the past year.
It’s time to politely tell our elected officials where to go in 2010 and find a new bank.
By the way.. you also need to box up that new TV and take it back to Best Buy.
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1 comment:
This is such a good analogy. I think your blog is great. You bring up very good points. I have been reading Laura Ingraham's Power to the People and it is awesome. She wrote it in 2007, but it's still extremely relevant for this new administration. Watching BO this past weekend slander our country while in Europe has been so disturbing. It's not about America, for him. It's about the world. He truly wants to rule the world. He'll have to get in line; there are lots of leaders in the G20 who want to rule the world. I keep hoping for the republican party to come back to its senses and for this country to get fed up with this crap. When is enough, enough?
Anyway - sorry to be so wordy! But I do enjoy your blog!
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