Two Feet of Topsoil

I recently heard someone describing "the blues" as a funny twist of sad lyrics with an upbeat tune, such that you start with the sad story, but you can't help but walk away feeling better.

I was reminded of that while listening to Brad Paisley's "Two Feet of Topsoil". To start off with, yep, it's a breakup song; his girl done left him. But everything else about it is so FUN. It's definitely country, with a fast-paced twang, but it also seems to meet the definition of "blues". Just read these lyrics:

Two Feet of Topsoil by Brad Paisley

Yesterday I thought that I was low as I could get
I had hit rock bottom
ever since you up and left
But this morning when I saw with somebody else,
well needless to say
That's when I started sinkin' even lower
And as far as where I'm at today

Well, There's two feet of topsoil
A little bit of bedrock, limestone in between
A fossilized dinosaur
A little patch of crude oil
A thousand feet of granite underneath
Then there's me

I was kinda hopin' I could dig my way back out
A couple dozen roses maybe get you back somehow
But the love in your eyes as you talked to him today
was plain to see
So I ain't gonna get involved, but should you
change your mind
Well you know right where I'll be

Well, There's two feet of topsoil
A little bit of bedrock, limestone in between
A fossilized dinosaur
A little patch of crude oil
A thousand feet of granite underneath
Then there's me

Embrace

"A fool bailed out never learns..."

Why is our country in this financial mess? You could point to lots of fat-cats at the top, but beneath all of that is a host of foolish credit decisions at the grass-roots level. People buying more than they can afford, and banks trying to get rich off of them.

Do we have the money to resolve this mess? Of course not. The country does not have $700 billion sitting in some account.

So how are we trying to get out of this mess? The same way we fund the war in Iraq, resolve social security, and deal with a host of other issues: we hand the bill over to our children (in the form of national debt), and proclaim victory. We are handing them a truly massive load of debt that they will be no more able to pay than we are. What kind of victory is that?

A bailout (READ: borrow debt our children will have to repay) is not the answer. The answer is we need to do the right thing for once: acknowledge the truth, that we are in this mess because of poor financial decisions, start taking responsibility, tighten our belts, and endure the pain. Let poorly run companies fail. The economy may suffer, but the market will eventually correct itself. Just as it always has. And it's the natural "fires" that burn away the waste, leaving a stronger, healthier system in their place.

The scariest part of all of this is the denial of responsibility on the national level. If we can not recognize our responsibility for getting into this mess, then how can we hope to resolve it?
We must deal with the mess, instead of just footing the bills onto our children. They already have far more of a mess headed their way than they can afford.