People talk about our economy and say that it's in a crisis. I think that this is beyond crisis. A crisis is something that is serious and significant, but usually absolved in a short time. What we are dealing with in the U.S. is a complete economic meltdown that is going to have far reaching implications for the next ten years or more; not just in this country, but world wide.
I love my country, but there are many aspects to the capitalistic system that leave it open to corruption. Chief among these are peoples insatiable appetite for money.
When people look to money as their God, it's going to cause problems because the only thing that matters is the attainment of that goal; to make more money. The more a person makes the bigger the blinders get that block their ability to look beyond their next big score.
George W.Bush and Friends have always believed that deregulation is what breeds a healthy economy. Their philosophy has always been to give people the room to conduct business without government interference. This swells markets, raises profits, and in turn gives businesses the opportunity to reinvest and grow. This, they believe, is what feeds a thriving economy and keeps in growing.
The problem with this is that too many people are never happy with what they have in terms of their finances and material goods. They crave more and more like a junkie craves more and more smack. They don't want one house, they want seven homes. They aren't happy with a sailboat, they want a yacht. Everything has to be bigger, better, and faster. They do anything to increase their bottom line and make more money to the detriment of the world around them; the environment and those people that don't have the type of power and political connections as the very rich do. As a result people start cutting corners in their business practices, they start forgetting personal and business ethics, they take advantage of their employees by not providing them a living wage or basic health benefits, outsourcing work outside the country to the lowest bidder, everything is geared towards making more money. It becomes a self-perpetuating disease.
This meltdown is the product of unbridled, uncontrolled greed. People can make the argument that the housing fiasco is the fault of the the people who bought homes they couldn't afford. However, they wouldn't be in this predicament if there weren't so many brokers who conveniently padded a prospective buyers income or provided a mortgage with a teaser rate that would quickly wind up ballooning out of control. When real estate brokers saw the amount of money that was being made, they had to do what was necessary, even if it might cause the nation's economic engine to grind to a standstill, to sell more homes. Dollar signs blinded their ability to see past their billfold.
As an American it's sad to see what this meltdown has done to our country. It's disseminated the middle class. People are losing their homes left and right, 401 K's and retirement portfolios are being bled dry, the the jobless rate is through the roof. People are angry and rightfully so.
Yet, the ones at the top who stand to gain the most from the $700,000,000,000 bailout it's business as usual. Not even three days after getting their money AIG was already sending their top producing employees to California for a $450,000 spa trip complete with saunas and pedicures. Nobody got fired. Just a few wrists were slapped.
There is something wrong with this picture.
In my estimation this meltdown has caused a siesmatic shift in our society and the ripples are going to be felt throughout the world for years to come.
Until regulations are in place to prevent this from happening again, we are all exposed to further economic disaster. The days of American self-indulgence is over.
Labels: U.S. economy
