The Bail Out Plan, Part Two

The most recent problem that our country has been battling is the financial crisis. After being rejected the first time around, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the revised $700 billion bail out plan; Bush signed it Friday October 3.

A CNN article posted last week describes the issue in greater detail: “Bush thanked all those involved and said the bill was essential to stopping the crisis on Wall Street becoming a crisis in the wider economy. Bush said it sent a message to the rest of the world that the U.S. was ready to take action to ease the credit crunch. He said it would take sometime for the bill to have an impact on the American economy.”

The bail out plan seems like it was a necessary precaution, however, I could not help think: When, or will, newspapers ever have to be bailed out?

In the CNN article, Bush said that he was glad the financial crisis could be stopped early on before spreading to the entire economy. Couldn’t there have been a way to stop the downfall that newspapers are facing sooner? Yes, I understand that it is a very different situation, but our country forgetting about the printed word and newspapers apparently forgetting how to appeal to their audience are problems that also need to be addressed. Of course, a financial crisis is solved with money. But what would it take, that is what law would need to be passed, to save newspapers? Maybe we need a law stating that the entire adult population in the country needs to pick up a newspaper everyday. Or a law that forces newspapers to cater to smaller, more specific audiences besides only running the obvious headline news, such as the bail out plan.

I also smiled to myself when I read the line that stated Bush said the bail out sent a message to the rest of the world that our country was fighting the credit problem. Well, what kind of message does the rest of the world get when part of our country can not get money to battle illiteracy, or the fact that slang is taking over our language and soon it may never be the same? Again, I understand the imminent danger of the financial crisis, yet perhaps a bail out should be considered for other parts of our country as well.