A parable for you

2 Samuel 12: 1-7:

The LORD sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

"Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him."
David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, "As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity."

Then Nathan said to David, "You are the man!"

With that in mind, here is my story to the Big 3: I have three children, who are grown and on their own. I ha done the best I can in teaching them about the world, finances, responsibility...but they all three continue to drive their credit cards to the limit, get more credit cards, spend, spend, spend. They all have jobs, but they are not very good ones. One works at a grocery store, one works in a jewelry store, and one shelves books at the library. They all live a lifestyle way outside their means. My husband and I have paid off each of their credit cards at various times, but this lesson has taught them nothing and their behavior does not change. We are faced now, at the holidays, with this same scenario. My husband tells me it's time for some tough love. In other words, let them fall on their face, deal with the creditors and face the real-world consequences of their bad decisions. I hate to see them fail because it will hurt me so badly. I want to bail them out.

What does the Big 3 Automakers say? "Let them fail! It is the only way they will learn their lesson."

Then Carmen said to the Big 3, "You are the children!"