The Little Red Hen (Modern Version)

I saw this today and thought that our readers might find this entertaining.

Once upon a time, there was a little red hen who scratched about the barnyard until she uncovered some grains of wheat.

She called her neighbors and said, “If we plant this wheat, we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?”

“Not I,” said the cow.
“Not I,” said the duck.
“Not I,” said the pig.
“Not I,” said the goose.

“Then I will,” said the little red hen, and she did.

The wheat grew tall and ripened into golden grain. “Who will help me reap my wheat?” asked the little red hen.

“Not I,” said the duck.
“Out of my classification,” said the pig.
“I’d lose my seniority,” said the cow.
“I’d lose my unemployment compensation,” said the goose.

“Then I will,” said the little red hen, and she did.

At last it came time to bake the bread. “Who will help me bake the bread?” asked the little red hen.

“That would be overtime for me,” said the cow.
“I’d lose my welfare benefits,” said the duck.
“I’m a dropout and never learned how,” said the pig.
“If I’m to be the only helper, that’s discrimination,” said the goose.

“Then I will,” said the little red hen.

She baked five loaves and held them up for her neighbors to see. They wanted some and, in fact, demanded a share.

But the little red hen said, “No, I can eat the five loaves.”

“Excess profits!” cried the cow.
“Capitalist leech!” screamed the duck.
“I demand equal rights!” yelled the goose.
And the pig just grunted.

And they painted “unfair” picket signs and marched around and around the little red hen, shouting obscenities.

When the government agent came, he said to the little red hen, “You must not be greedy.”

“But I earned the bread,” said the little red hen.

“Exactly,” said the agent. “That is the wonderful free enterprise system. Anyone in the barnyard can earn as much as he wants. But under our modern government regulations, the productive workers must divide their product with the idle.”

And they lived happily ever after, including the little red hen, who smiled and clucked, “I am grateful. I am grateful.”

But her neighbors wondered why she never again baked any more bread.

No Bail-Out

We along with many of you are, I am sure, ecstatic about the US Congress voting down the market Bail-Out bill. This action could have produced many far reaching negative effects that we have not seen the likes of since the great depression.

Proponents of this bail-out bill imply that not passing the bill will provide for a greater banking crisis and a frozen credit market, making it impossible for small businesses to function.

Does the very logic not make your stomach nauseous? The thought that the majority of small businesses are only running on credit to fuel their success seems like a very frightening predicament indeed. We have drifted so far from the place that we started over 200 years ago, Hard Work, Saving, Wise and Prudent investment, making the most of what you had in the world and finding ways to create the most value with what you had at your disposal. This process created some of the greatest minds and influence that the world has ever seen.

Now it seems that a great majority of business owners are plagued by that very disease that created this great mess in the first place. The excessive use and abuse of credit and manipulation of the market to keep the rate artificially low, making it cheap and readily available. This situation unfortunately will always lead to malinvestment, and degradation of the market. As we clearly see evidenced.

So while Washington seems more than ready to point the finger at the market, or those predatory lenders, etc… Let us remember that the ones that they seem not able to point a finger at, themselves and the Federal Reserve, are those that are at the core of this problem, and without making changes specifically to the regulation or elimination of the Fed. This problem will just continue to rear its ugly head again and again until we learn our lesson and cut off it’s head.