There’s a joke on the Internet about a foul-mouthed parrot that squawks persistently about his wants.

Finally, the owner of the parrot has had enough and threatens to put the parrot in the freezer, all the time the parrot is cussing and squawking.

Finally, the parrot is thrown into the freezer.

After a few second, the parrot gets quiet.

The owner opens the door, and humbly, the parrot walks onto the owner’s arm, apologizes and asks, “So what did the turkey do?”

Drawing a parallel with the parrot and those asking for all those billions of dollars of taxpayer money isn’t too far-fetched—they squawk their wants and needs without a thought as to what sacrificing they must do to keeping themselves alive and well.

Us turkeys, the taxpayers, are the ones who are making the sacrifices—some could even say the commitments—to trying to keep the U.S. economy out of a deep freeze.

Parrot for Thanksgiving? Don’t think we can swallow it too well.