Wrighter’s Wrants

There are a lot of things one could write about the recently-failed $700 billion bailout proposed to save Wall Street. But none of it made me as angry as this article. The article is basically a how-to for politicians to dupe their constituents. It states that the reason the bailout didn’t pass was because it wasn’t “sold” properly to voters. (Oh and by the way, there’s an election right around the corner.)

Some tips from that article and similar articles include:
The first and most obvious: don’t call it a “bailout;” call it a “rescue.” Or better yet, the “Consumer Protection Act.”
Second: send someone who people actually like to deliver the message. If Warren Buffet got up and urged Americans to pass this thing, it would probably pass. As opposed to Paulson, (a former investment banker) whose message has been something like: Give me $700 billion, right now, and don’t ask any questions.
Third: find a family that is in dire straights, who are good-looking and photogenic, and tell everyone that this ordinary family’s kids can’t go to college, they are losing their home, yada yada yada. Of course, you have to also make it clear: “This could happen to you!”

Anyway, those are all great ideas and interesting stuff if you’re a marketer or politician. To everyone who is a normal American: beware. These are the sort of tactics that you can expect for the attempt to revive the bailout. I ordinarily do not consider myself a libertarian nut-job, but this might sound like it: do not simply believe that anything Congress passes to save the market is in your best interest, even if they call it the “Consumer Protection Act.” Analyze what the actual package is. If this is the same old bailout, but just rebranded with fancier packaging, don’t buy it!

Here is yet another article not-so-subtly placing the blame for all of America’s credit problems on the banks and their advertising agencies. I hate to say it, but probably Americans are the sheep of advertisers to an unfortunately large degree. But why is that? Is it because the advertisers are so good? Or is it because so many Americans have never had any formal financial education whatsoever? Add to that that few Americans ever have any education regarding marketing, and poof, you have sheep.

The ads are clever. They appeal to people’s sense of entitlement and self-esteem, e.g., “you worked hard on your house, isn’t it time it worked for you?” and “It’s the smart way to borrow.”

Just a one-hour seminar on recognizing advertising strategies like these could go a long way in helping people from swallowing this stuff hook, line, and sinker. It is not all the advertisers’ and banks’ fault. The borrowers share some blame as well. But our society’s failure to educate on such basic matters is probably the most blameworthy.

Think about it. No matter what you do in life, whether you are a waitress making minimum wage, or a high-powered CEO making millions, you will have to make financial decisions in your life: making a budget, controlling spending, whether to buy a house, retirement, etc. That’s the bottom line: everyone has to deal with money, no matter their station in life. It is an absolute travesty that such an important subject is given little or no time in our public schools. That needs to change. No more simply blaming the advertisers.

I haven’t blogged in a long time, but this is worth blogging about! The Supreme Court struck down Washington D.C.’s handgun ban as unconstitutional. It ruled that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms, as opposed to a right only in connection with service in a state militia.

This will be an interesting experiment. DC’s handgun ban has been in place since 1976. Also, DC is one of the most violent cities in the US. Now that the ban has been struck down, it will be very interesting to see if crime increases or decreases in DC. I do actually expect that there will be a small increase in gun-related crimes, because availability will increase. (Think kid taking his dad’s gun to school.) However, I’d expect also that there will be a decrease especially in burglaries and similar crimes.