It wasn’t so long ago that the working class was chastised for living paycheck to paycheck. Conservatives were criticizing people who were struggling financially for not taking personal responsibility. Save and plan for the future and an unexpected medical bill won’t lead to bankruptcy. The tactic was effective and left its practitioners without a twinge of guilt for the systematic devastation of hardworking Americans to the benefit of the very wealthy. It was even popular among millions in the middle class themselves. It felt good to point at the working poor and those crippled by debt and say “at least I got mine”.
I find it interesting now just how many people have their hands out reaching for a lifeline to cope with the very real financial hardship brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Corporations are finding themselves strapped after just two months of losses. Bailouts and stimulus packages are now acceptable to the same voices that were denigrating the needy for relying on the social safety net. Apparently socialism tastes good when it is coming to the aid of airlines and corporations. Meat processing plants are declared too big to fail in echoes of the financial collapse of the Bush recession. Truck drivers who berated those workers who turned to food stamps or welfare are complaining that the stimulus cap cuts them out of the stimulus funds.
Shouldn’t personal responsibility have shored up the economic stability of these corporations? Certainly, wise stewardship and planning is sufficient to weather a few months of the crashing bombast of a downturn. Isn’t it?