Another look at entitlements

With the passage of the new health care bill people are voicing their views about health care entitlements. There are many entitlements that exist, some small and some very large. The leaders of the large financial firms certainly demonstrated that they felt entitled to keep their jobs even though they were accountable for failure of these companies and with the failure of these companies they were also responsible for damaging this country's economy that led to a massive bailout to save the companies and our economy.

These same people also feel entitled to give themselves and their staff massive bonuses, despite these failures. Our own federally elected officials feel entitled to give themselves annual raises and generous medical and retirement benefits regardless of how long they have actually served in office. When gasoline prices were around $4 per gallon, the reactions implied that people felt they were entitled to cheap gasoline.

Meanwhile the oil companies were entitling themselves to massive profits. Don't many people act entitled to make "rolling stops" when making right turns on red lights and drive above the posted speed limit. And perhaps the most disgusting entitlement is the multitude of dog owners that feel entitled to leave their dog droppings rather than pick them up and discard of them properly.

So, when complaining about entitlements, stop and think about the entitlements you treat as your right to have. Me, I feel entitled to have a job so if you are a prospective employer, look me up in LinkedIn.

Wilfred Hegg

Palatine