Mar
5
The Ants and the Sugar Pile
Filed Under Economics
Watching Washington discuss and reflect upon the financial crisis is interesting. It reveals a great deal about Washington’s (lack of) understanding of our situation as well as their lack of a sensible long-term solution.
Imagine coming home from work and discovering ants crawling across your kitchen floor. They have no right to be there(!), so you begin stepping on them, spraying them with Raid and doing everything you can to drive them away.
The next day, you come home from work and discover… the ants are back! They didn’t decrease in the slightest. You spray more Raid, you step on them harder, and even spray Raid under the fridge.
The next day… you come home… and…
MORE ANTS!
Finally, you get frustrated and take off your coat, throw the keys and mail aside and ease the fridge off the wall. What do you discover but… a giant sugar pile!
You jerk your neck upwards and see a small hole in a giant brown paper bag resting on the back ledge of the fridge that leaks sugar onto the linoleum floor each time the refrigerator is nudged!
Armed with this knowledge, what do you do?
- Kill all the ants in sight and push the fridge back into place?
- Throw out the bag of sugar, clean up the sugar pile, kill the ants and then push the fridge back into place?
The answer should be obvious.
What Washington is doing with their new laws and regulations, like those regarding executive compensation, alphabet soup acronyms (TALF, TARP, PDCF, ABCPMMMF, CPFF, TAF, etc.), and questioning CEOs amount to stepping on ants. The verbal vitriol about Wall Street versus Main Street amounts to spraying Raid. It feels good to stomp on a few ants to try and show the other ants who’s boss, however, it isn’t a long-term viable solution. Stomping on a Jimmy Cayne or Dick Fuld isn’t going to make future ants resist the sweet taste of sugar…
The sugar bag of fiat currency must be taken away so long-term improvements can be made. Allowing the printing of billions of dollars to finance wars, welfare states and other endeavors which are not borne of savings and production is immoral and will only encourage more sugar to spill from the bag.
The problem isn’t the ants, or, in our case, the investment bankers, lobbyists and special interest groups. They are doing what is instinctual and natural to their ant brains. The problem is a giant pile of sugar, in our case, fiat money and easy credit created by the government, which will forever attract those seeking money and influence.
Debating the merits of Democrats and Republicans makes about as much sense as debating the merits of red ants or black ants.
When things move from bad to worse, are you going to care what color ants were ruining your house, or will you be thankful you were focused on your attitude, job performance, health and temperament?
Takeaway: There are already ants in the house and sugar is leaking everywhere. Now is the time to improve your performance at work and cherish your health, plentiful food and clean environment.
To read more about the nature of our financial system, click here.
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