Free rides could end with a painful price

Amid the microcosm of the near-meltdown of the U.S. dollar, the U.S. investment banking industry and the economy in general, a few free bus rides in Illinois seem of minimal impact.

But all result from the very same cause -- fiscal irresponsibility on the part of those who are paid to be fiscally responsible with stockholders' or taxpayers' dollars.

Comments from those senior citizens using public transportation on the first day of free rides for their age group show they at least appreciated having a few dollars more in their pockets for food or medicine.

But the free rides also are an example of decisions made without any proven need for such assistance or any assessment of long-term financial impacts. These free rides were the result of political manipulation by a governor who knows older folks tend to vote. There was no means-test and no study of the financial ramifications.

In other words, somewhere down the road, politicians -- and taxpayers -- will no doubt be "surprised" to discover there was a cost to those "free" rides. Other projects might have to be cut as a result. Or we'll do what we've been doing nationwide and in this state for too long -- borrow money to pay the bill and let our children and grandchildren pay for our excesses later.

And the only solution proposed to deal with such bad habits so far, government saving the irresponsible while putting the dollars of the more responsible at potential risk, seems to perpetuate the problem, not solve it.

First, it was the savings and loans. Then steel companies and car companies, grown fat and inefficient. Then airlines and, more recently, mortgage issuers and holders, neither of which showed much sense or responsibility and led to the crash of investment banking giant Bear Stearns. When the U.S. government backed JP Morgan Chase & Co.'s purchase of Bear Stearns after the stock eroded to almost no value, it left stockholders in the lurch. Taxpayers are paying nothing for this bailout, which is aimed at stabilizing the investment banking industry. But if it doesn't work, taxpayers could be on the hook.

The government is, after all, us. Or in many of these cases where the financial ramifications will be felt for years, the government -- particularly its bills -- will be for our children and theirs to pay. And they'll face that huge tab with poorer job prospects, poorer preparation to be competitive and deeper personal debt.

Recent bailouts and stimulus rebates coming soon to a mailbox near you may save us from total economic collapse momentarily. But the line for other bailouts could be long, meaning we also are a long way from breaking ourselves -- and our governments -- of irresponsible habits.

But the current dire economic circumstances should remind taxpayers, businessmen and political leaders that "free" rides are never really free. And that paying for them after the fact is almost always more painful than paying for them up-front -- or not providing them at all.