Insight for the Day

I was listening to TWiT today (http://www.twit.tv/twit) and there was an interesting comment that was worth sharing.  I believe it was from Jason Calicanis or Andrew Horowitz.  I am sure it is not an exact reflection on the TWiT comments  -- I report on it from my own perspective, and add my own little rant in the final paragraph.

The comparison was between our current financial mess and youth sports. 

Youth sports have dissolved into the mindset of: "everyone is a winner -- you all get trophies."  We don't want to damage the egos of our little ones (we also tend to be over protective in keeping them from physical pain too, but that is a post for another day)

Wall Street seems to be heading the same direction.  "It's OK that you lost billions of dollars.  Don't feel bad.  It's not your fault that you gave money to someone with no chance of ever paying you back for a house worth less than the person paid for it.  Here, have a nice severance package -- it will make you feel better."

Parents may be able to coddle their children for a while (and maybe keep them as children for a while longer if the coddling keeps the child from maturing).  But Uncle Sam is an old man who is already deeply in debt.  Sometime (and sometime soon) he is going to have to admit to his Wall Street boyz that he can't bail them out.  That they need to grow up, become men, and take responsibility for themselves.

-- Andy