Chicken and egg situation.
Blame the people for borrowing or blame the banks for lending. I blame neither.
I blame the government and their financial regulators and central banks. The current crisis was forseen by little old me 18 months ago. Sure as hell those at the top knew way before me what was to unfold. But the asset bubble made the voters feel good and that returned governments.
Planned bankruptcy was and is a pefectly rational and logical path for a young Wannabe. Its a path opened up the governments sharp relaxation of the penalties of bakruptcy and its tarmaced by the banks who just want to shovel the money out of the door instead of asking questions. The path leads to moral and societal oblivion but the Wannabe played only a part in his journey down it.
270 odd CTC cadets concerned about actually getting placed in an airline will probably be getting quite clued up about bankruptcy law at the moment.
I'm against the Paulson bailout as:
a) I think its theft, and
b) I don't think it will work
Recessions are meant to restore balance, purge excess, and liquidate mal-investments. We *need* a whopper of a recession.
2009 is going to be a repeat of 1991 and a great many airlines will go bust. Spock the Wannabe would probably stop spending on training immediately. Many won't - I was talking to one this morning taking their Multi IR on Monday believing that would ideally position them for when jobs become available in 18 months time..!
A failure to read up on any history there then.
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