My neighbor Bob is a nice guy with a serious drinking problem and a host of self inflicted medical problems.  He looks like he's outlived his body 3 times.  Bob is a concrete man and when he's sober....or relatively sober...he does great concrete work.   But Bob isn't the most reliable worker around and most of the contractors in town know it.  They don't hire Bob much...he's given them reason not to trust him over the years.   His addiction to booze has gotten him thrown off more than one job site and word has spread Bob is a mess.  I've hired Bob a number of times and have always managed to get good results.  I guess I'm more patient than the contractors.  

Bob's life is a mess.  He has no family, no steady work and no money.  Bob lives job to job making just enough to quench his addiction.  When the gas prices increased I wondered how long Bob would last.   It turned out....about 8 weeks.

 

On a Saturday morning this summer Bob knocked on my back door.  He told me he was in dire straits and needed $200.  When I asked why, he told me he had to get some of his tools out of hock.  My first thought was to give him the money.  I knew he needed it and I knew he'd use at least part of it to buy more beer.  But as I wrestled internally about how I'd explain my generosity to my wife and worried I was opening the door to host of his future requests for more handouts.  I remembered a small concrete project I was planning to do myself.  I told Bob I'd give him $200 if he promised to come back next week and do my concrete work.   He agreed and I went inside and wrote him a check.   Bob did a great job on my concrete, despite the backache it gave him and has never been back for another handout.   He may be knocking on other doors these days, but he isn't knocking on mine.

 

The Wall Street mess this week reminds me of my neighbor Bob.  For years bad decisions and a lack of self discipline has turned the financial industry into a corporate version of Bob.  Not many folks trust the financial fat cats these days.   They've given us plenty of reasons not to.  And like Bob they've hocked everything they had to get the next drink.   Greed like alcohol is an addiction.

So now Wall Street is knocking on America's back door and asking for $700 Billion.  My advice....let's make them work for it and like Bob let's leave them with a sore back.  It's not like the money will cure their addiction....it didn't for Bob.  So the best we can hope for is a one time handout.  I'm just wondering who's door they'll knock on next time.