Ummm ... About that $700 Billion ... What If?

Could I have just a tad? Just a wee scotch? A little something, you know ... for the effort? Some of it was my tax money, right? So maybe a tiny throwback to old Ma and Pa middle America would be ... ummm ... fair? I promise to use it wisely. I will do my part to stimulate the economy - maybe paint the bathroom, plant a shrub or two, pay the electric bill, eat.

'Cuz here's the thing ... I don't know where the $700 billion came from and I don't understand where it's gonna go. Seriously, where was the $700 billion before last week? It's not like the $20 bill you found in the pocket of your winter coat. Or the torn $5 wedged between your carseat and the console. Where in the heck does $700 billion come from? Did George Bush spy a little glint in the grass when he was hitting a few dingers on the White House lawn? After a few minutes of investigatory diggin' he yodeled out to Laura, "Holy crap, I found this Mason jar buried in the Rose Garden and it has like 700 billion dollars in it! Bonus!"

I don't think so.

In the end the money comes out my pocket and yours and your mom's and your 2 month old baby's future pocket because this is the price of greed, and somebody has to pay the bill ... or in this case the $700 billion. It hurts today and it will hurt for many tomorrows...

...which brings me back to my original thought. What if, just what if, the $700 billion was given instead as grants to fund people with good ideas, like innovations in manufacturing or inspiration in the arts, or programs that promoted self-sufficiency, or schools that taught economic literacy, or neighborhoods that planted community gardens. What if that $700 billion was the stuff of a trillion micro-loans, for ordinary people to dream, to grow, to create, and to do great things? And what if those micro-loans helped wonderful ideas to flourish, and what if we could share those wonderful ideas with the world? And what if those with power realized that the biggest investment that any nation can make is in its people. Just ... what if?