Something worth thinking about

Commentary by Chris Clegg

Years ago, when I attended school one of two things happened. You were rewarded and advanced a grade, or failed and held back. Today, most jurisdictions advance a student no matter how poorly they are doing. Apparently, it’s bad for the psyche to let anyone fail. Today, awards presentations at some schools give a prize to almost everyone. No matter how well or how poor you do, everyone gets a prize. This is not acceptable and does nothing to prepare our children for the real world. News flash! Yes, there are some who succeed and some who fail, or at least, are not as successful as others. Getting a poor mark in school does not mean a person is not intelligent. In fact, most of us went to school with people who did not fare as well as us in the marks department, but today make far more money than those who fared better. There is plenty of opportunity in today’s world for people who don’t excel in grade school. Where am I going with this? Don’t you find it incredibly stupid when government considers bailouts for corporations running in the red? Really, no matter how you look at it, it amounts to rewarding failure. Why should the taxpayer be on the hook for bailing out any company because they are going broke for making bad business decisions? It is counter-productive in the worst possible way and completely against the basic principles of free enterprise. One would never argue letting any huge corporation collapse is good for the economy. Jobs are lost and people’s lives are ruined. But in the free enterprise system, what happens when one company fails is another company will rise from its ashes and fill the void. Chances are, it will also be better operated and be more productive in the long run. The economy will actually strengthen. For the most part, companies fail because executives and CAOs make bad business decisions. In many cases, they assume times will always be good and never plan for rainy days. When the downpour arrives, they’re caught with the pants down. Too late! Unless, of course, government arrives on their white horse to rescue the company drowning in a sea of red. For example, let’s look at the American banks. Does it really make sense when the waitress down the street or labourer sees their taxes increase to help pay millions and billions for bailouts for people making far more money than they do? For executives raking in millions of dollars for running a corporation into the ground? Why should a minimum wage earner shell out more of his hard-earned money so the fat cats can continue to live the high life? Should the burger flipper at McDonald’s be expected to help rescue the Big Three auto executives, who continue to fly around the country in private jets sipping champagne? Honestly, no matter how badly you screw things up, is it government’s role to throw money at you to make things better? There is something wrong with this picture. In today’s society, children pass and are forwarded to another grade. In today’s society, corporations who fail are rewarded with gobs of money from the rest of the taxpayers. What in the world are we teaching our children?

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