The Three Little Pigs Revisited in 2012

Once upon a time there were three little pigs who were trying to make their way in the world. The first little pig didn't think he was smart enough for college, so he found a job that paid minimum wage. The problem was he didn't make enough to cover living expenses so he lived at home with his parents. The second little pig went to college and got good grades, but when he graduated he couldn't find a job and he owed a lot of money for his student loans. He found even getting a low paying job challenging since now he was "over qualified" or else had the education, but not the experience. He too found himself living with his parents.

The third little pig went into business and made a lot of money. He then decided to go into politics and soon found himself making laws that affected the lives of all the little pigs. He figured out that if he worked it right, he could make laws to benefit his business and make him even more money. Unfortunately, the laws made life more difficult of the other two little pigs. Pig #3 was doing really well when the big bad wolf of depression came to call. Pig #3's business and interests were only marginally affected by the wolf, but the other two little pigs lost the jobs they had and their parents struggled to keep their homes. Pig#1's parents lost their home to foreclosure and they were getting ready to have to live on the streets. The wolf had taken so much from them.

Pig#3 didn't seem to care much about what was happening to the other little pigs in the country. He was busy trying to find ways to cut spending to help the other pigs while enhancing the businesses of himself and all the other business pigs. He, if asked, would rationalize his actions by saying that helping business pigs would be the best way to help the non-business pigs. So, the business pigs got richer and all the other pigs got poorer. Eventually, because the non-business pigs had no money, the business pigs started to not make as much money as before, since, if no one has money to spend, they stop buying. Business pigs started to have their businesses fail. Some of the business pigs were able to get Pig #3 to make laws and to "borrow" money from the National Pig Association to keep them afloat. The sad thing is, while these business pigs told everyone they were having money trouble, the business pigs continued to pay their top business pigs bonuses. The now poor pigs felt so helpless, for they had worked hard and lost everything, yet the business pigs with the right connections were getting bonuses while telling everyone how bad they had it. There were some really angry little pigs, but they also felt helpless to fix things--they didn't have the right connections and now they hear that Pig #3 was trying to pass bills to take away the few things they did have, all the while telling the other little pigs that this is the only option and not to worry everything will be fine.