Just Asking Part Deux

OK, so we get the "shared sacrifice" slogan all of our elected betters are using to try and convince us they have a plan to keep this country from sliding into irrelevancy. President Muslim used it to explain why his budget cut home heating assistance. He didn't mention it's a scientific fact poor people are fat because of all that $2 a case mac and cheese they get from Costco. That's how you pick them out in a crowd. It's just a variation of the O'Brien Method.  The point is, they've got extra layers, man, they don't need all that heat. Here in the home state of IM Central, our newly elected governor (Republican of course--all the cool states are doing it these days) has decided to remove the Earned Income Tax credit from his budget because the people who use it--namely poor families--really don't need the state to help them feed their kids and buy them clothes and stuff. Heck, mac and cheese is $2 a case at Costco, dude, and have you seen the selection of worn out jeans and sweatshirts at Goodwill these days?

Times are tough for everyone, you know? Shared sacrifice and whatnot, yo?

Now, we can understand why the Kenyan Usurper needs to cut back, having given all that money to the bankers and such, and here in the Water Winter Wonderland we understand that sacrifice is needed so businessmen can get their tax break. Jobs, you know, and...um...rising tide lifting all boats et cetera and so forth.

But here's our question: When a poor person makes a bad short term decision, like say buys a smart phone he or she can't afford instead of paying down credit card debt, or saving or something, that person gets held up to public scrutiny as an example of everything that's wrong with social welfare programs and why should we be letting these people lead the life of Riley on the public dime when times are tough and yada yada yada blah blah blah whatever shared sacrifice, the end.

Yet when a business executive makes a bad short term decision that brings down his or her company, and lately the whole economy, that person gets a bail out, a tax break and a bonus.

Why is that, exactly?