Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Remember the 1984 movie, Country? It was a drama about a Midwest farming family that lost their farm in the '80's farm loan debacle. The movie starred Sam Shepard and Jessica Lange. One of my favorite actors, Wilfred Brimley, played the patriarch. Ronald Reagan called is a "blatant propaganda message against our agri programs." I had other thoughts at the time and even more today.

I have seared in my mind a scene at the auction of the farm equipment. The son/grandson reaches into his pocket and pulls out all the money he has, something like $8.34, and buys the harnesses for a team of horses his grandfather used to plow the farm with. He walks to his grandfather, and gives him the harnesses and walks away.

I was reminded of this film this morning as I rode my bike home from school. I remember the feelings of utter failure, abandonment and helplessness that the father, Gil, felt. The feelings of having survived a tornado, the government throwing money at you to "upgrade" something that didn't need fixing and then the banks sailing in to suck you dry when their crop prices wouldn't pay the mortgage.

In an AP story this morning in the Times-Delta, one of the front page stories in about the failures of small businesses. The "public is paying to offset bank losses on small business loans across the country." "The Small Business Administration purchased $2.1 billion in bad loans from lenders last year. Agency officials say it's likely that this year will see another high as the recession nears the two-year mark." We have already stepped into the dangerous waters of propping up our banks, so this doesn't seem anything other than a continuance of that move. The taxpayers covering the banks. But the article continues.

"It's a sign that even as record profits re-emerge on Wall Street, thanks to massive government loans and guarantees for banks deemed too big to fail, the pain on Main Street is as profound as it's been in half a century." Not just Main Street.

It seems that just as the Ivy's lost their farm in the movie, Main Street is losing their businesses and homes now. And the banks reap record profits. Is this a government that is serving us? And is this a government that is going to last?

Remember "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" Try this.