The Bowl Season and the Economy

Hello Readers,

The best part of the week after Christmas is the college bowl games. I used to like pro football far more than the college game. In the last 10 years or so I have come to like the college game better. I think it is because they run so many more offensive plays during the game.

The bowl season is the reward to the kids for the hard work they put in during the regular season. A lot of people think there are way too many bowl games. I think the "new economy" will cause a correction in the amount of bowl games that are financially sustainable. I do not like to see a team that is 6 and 6 (think Notre Dame) rewarded with a bowl game. A few less games will weed out a few teams not worthy of a post season game.

Who knows though, maybe the federal government will step up and bail the financially weak bowl games out, too. I read this morning that some major retailers are asking for bailout money. Unbelievable!

We need to rise up and tell our elected officials, NO! Enough is Enough! If major retailers get tax dollars it is a crime against small business everywhere. If a few more major retailers go down, small business would be poised to pick up the slack. Did small, locally owned banks get bailout money? I think not.

In fact the bailout is poorly conceived, poorly planned, and poorly executed. The last people we should ever want looking after our money is our elected officials. I know we elected them to do so, but look at their track record. The old cliche about past behavior predicting future behavior certainly applies here.

Look, they gave the banks money, a huge tax break (the ability to write off the bad debts of the failed institutions they acquire), and then put no strings on the money. By the way the bad debts they write off were already written down in the purchase price. You talk about a future windfall.

That's right. The tax dollars they are getting are being used to strengthen their balance sheets and as a war chest for future acquisitions. The cash is NOT being loaned out to put money in circulation throughout the country.

Think about it. That's why I like the bowl season. It gets my mind off the ineptitude for a few hours.

Until next time,

Chuck Trautman