The Other Katherine Harris
by The Other Katherine Harris
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
Feb. 21, 2009
It’s a question I’ve heard frequently during the past few days – and I know that my friend who keeps asking it is far from alone in feeling greater outrage about public aid to homeowners than about the far larger sums we’re handing to financial elites who already grabbed trillions of dollars while wrecking the global economy.
Probably you’ve also appealed to friends to direct their wrath more appropriately at the banksters; their affiliated hedge-hogs and buyout vultures; and the governments which have been and continue to be their puppets. My friend theoretically grasps the wisdom of that, but still he seethes more furiously over any little break given to ordinary folks. He’s especially upset by the idea that an owner might receive $5,000 for keeping the adjusted payments current over a period of years.
That must be partly because we understand $5,000. Few can get their heads around millions and billions, let alone trillions, but we all know what $5,000 will buy. Its value to us varies with circumstances, of course. The privileged set drop that much on a handbag, while it would solve or significantly lessen many people’s urgent problems and, for many more, it would provide a welcome emergency fund or a special treat. Spent wisely, it could supply a life-changing chance for education or to launch a business.
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