Posted by
grad_1986 on Wednesday, August 24, 2011 5:06:41 PM
Today we hear our politicians talking about "safety nets" and how important that we have them. We have grown up in an era where it was just expected that there would always be a safety net to catch us when we mess up. However, when you think about the term "safety net" and what it means you see how it is the real cause of all of our ills.
Reckless Behavior
The term "safety net" comes from the trapeze artists in the circus. It allowed the artists to take on larger and larger risks up there on the trapeze without the fear of it being their last act. They could do double and tripple summersalts and many other moves to entertain their audiences below. While this is fine for the circus, this is not fine for the real world. For unlike the circus, the actions of those depending on the safety-net have consequences for others not taking the risk. For example, those not saving money for rainy days or retirement. Why should I waste my hard earned money for something that the government will take care of? We saw this in the mortgage crisis. People not saving their money but instead taking on riskier and riskier mortgages all so they can have the ever illusive "home in the suburbs". Also, in this crisis, it was not just the people buying these homes that were lured by the safety-net, but also the banks and mortgage companies. They were able to pass on these risky loans to government institutions like Fannie-Mae and Freddy-Mac and thereby take on riskier and riskier loans because the "government has their back" (safety-net). When risks are removed, people do increasingly stupid things.
Safety-Nets or Hammocks
The circus safety-net is to be used only for a brief period of time. But if a trapeze artist fell and then decided to lay in the net and take a nap, would you not be demanding our money back from the circus? You did not come to see I guy take a nap, but instead you want him to get back on the ladder and try the stunt again. This is what has happened to our social-security and welfare safety-nets. The have become hammocks for the lazy. Rather than get up and try again at life, the welfare line becomes a way of life for them. And as more and more people find themselves in the net, the net requires more and more support from us the taxpayers. Like the circus-net, the net is only designed to have a certain number of people needing it at a particular time (1 or 2 performers). This determines the cost of the net and makes it affordable by the circus manager. If he had to make the net accommodate the entire circus company (performers, workers, animals) the net would be too costly and we would never see another triple-summersalt again. Our government nets are breaking under the weight of too many requiring toomuch when too few pay taxes ( 51% of Americans pay no income taxes and the top 1% pays 50% of all the taxes).
We need to get rid of our safety-nets. We need to have people reap the rewards of their own behaviors (good or bad). We need people to use their own inner desire for safety to protect them (and us) rather than hoping that some faceless government agency. If we don't we will continue to "reap the whirlwind" because others are "sowing the wind" without ANY regard for us. That is the only way for us to encourage others to change their ways.