MorePresident Bush issued pardons to 14 people and commuted the sentences of two others yesterday. While I realize this is a traditional practice, and certainly more so near the end of a president’s term, it just doesn’t make any sense to me. If these people committed these crimes, why should they receive a get-out-of-jail-free card? If they didn’t commit the crimes, if there were mitigating circumstances or some kind of miscarriage of justice, isn’t that the job of the courts to decide?
Forgiving those who really goof up seems to be the trend these days, from jailbirds to folks who took on bad mortgages and those who provided them. Citigroup, the latest beneficiary of the government’s forgiveness, will receive $20 billion in a bailout package announced yesterday. I’m no economist, as I’ve said before, and it may be that these bailouts are the only way our economy is going to have a chance at resuscitation. It just doesn’t seem fair, somehow, that these huge companies get aid simply because of their size and reach, while smaller companies are left to struggle and possibly fizzle out.
What do you think? Are we too forgiving of transgressors these days? Please enter a comment below to share your thoughts.
Forgiving those who really goof up seems to be the trend these days, from jailbirds to folks who took on bad mortgages and those who provided them. Citigroup, the latest beneficiary of the government’s forgiveness, will receive $20 billion in a bailout package announced yesterday. I’m no economist, as I’ve said before, and it may be that these bailouts are the only way our economy is going to have a chance at resuscitation. It just doesn’t seem fair, somehow, that these huge companies get aid simply because of their size and reach, while smaller companies are left to struggle and possibly fizzle out.
What do you think? Are we too forgiving of transgressors these days? Please enter a comment below to share your thoughts.
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