What good for the goose is good for the gander, but not if you're a consumer!

If you've ever been to Las Vegas, you've probably seen the famous "Welcome" sign and the myriad of cathedral hotels that line Las Vegas Blvd. I had the opportunity to ride down Las Vegas Blvd as part of the Viva Bike Vegas Gran Fondo, and it was truly a sight to behold from the vantage point of bicycle at oh-dark-thirty in the morning.  The lights were fabulous and Las Vegas' finest were on hand to block traffic for the 3,000 plus riders cruising down the boulevard.  I was reminded of the monorail that serves to reduce traffic in the area when I read an article in the Review-Journal, the local paper here, this morning.

According to the paper, the non-profit that runs the monorail had 757 million dollars in debt reduced to 13 million!  Poof! $744M gone into the desert air!  Oh, and by the way, now that the debt is more "manageable," they want to expand???  Really???   It got me to thinking: Why is it when a business--non-profit or otherwise--is in substantial debt, that debt normally can be forgiven without much fanfare, but when consumers face similar issues (albeit, at substantially lower amounts) we hear of arguments of personal responsibility followed (in some cases) by unreasonable foreclosure proceedings? 

Now I'm not suggesting that people ought not be responsible for the debts they accumulate.  Quite the contrary.  What I am suggesting is that if personal, fiscal responsibility is the expectation for consumers (and it should be), then it damn well ought to be the modus operandi for businesses as well.  The reality is that the money does NOT just disappear.  Sure, it gets "written off" the books in accounting doublespeak, but that money is recouped in creative ways that typically sock it to the consumer.  Case in point, it's not just by chance that bank fees are rising by as much as 25%.  According to a Forbes report, "Only 45% of banks offer free checking in Bankrate’s 2011 Checking Account Survey, and that number is likely to drop. At credit unions, the number is higher with 72% offering free checking but that’s down 4% from from last year’s study."

The basic tenet of "Make more" or "Spend Less" still applies--and businesses have no issue pushing the envelope on the former.  To be clear, I'm not anti-business--that would be silly on any number of levels--but there's something that needs to be said when there is clear gouging due to lack of competition (at best) or collusion (at worst).  And while I consider myself fiscally conservative, there is need--in my humble opinion--for regulation to reduce how easily corporate debt can be "forgiven."  Everyone wants the spoils when calculated risks are taken and work out wonderfully, but no one wants to pay the piper when the risks fall through. Responsibility is (and should be) for everyone, and not for the privileged few. 

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Peace,
+THINKER