We are angry about our economy these days. But we’ve been angry before. Anyone familiar with the trust-busting era or the history of labor unions can attest to that. I don’t believe greed and corporate corruption are anymore rampant and deep-rooted today than they were before this recesion. Nor do I believe that our era is unique in its attempt to morally “cleanse” Wall Street.
Unlike the past however problems for the average consumer and with our financial system have been projected on the world’s stage via all the major media syndicates. Awareness of economic issues has reached new heights. As a result a political war convoluted in a whirlwind of blameful rhetoric has begun. Politicians are barring no holds to save face with the public eye that is questioningly fixed on their legislation. But these projections are just our own attempts to step away from the blame.
The media with the American citizen at its side is on a witch-hunt in Wall Street. Anyone with the smallest sign of greed is immediately being brought to the proverbial chopping block to stand trial for the sins of all the corporate head honchos who cast their shadows of deception over what the public still believes to be a nation of hard-working self-made honest folks. The citizens feels taken advantage of and they want vengeance.?
This week I’ve been watching the headlines: “Al Qaeda Hurt Us For A Day – AIG Has Destroyed Us for a Generation and Obama vs AIG.” These portray the righteous citizen following their fearless leader to the White House launching a brutal campaign against the corporate elite who misused the success that we the consumer afforded them.
Cries of “90 percent tax” and “We want to see someone thrown in jail” (Ã la Enron) are being thrown around in the tumultuous uproar that has ensued. Many of us students probably don’t know the exact details but we know that our families are going through a rough patch and a degree doesn’t necessarily mean a job after graduation.?
So we have a right to be angry right? Perhaps in fact it is the American middle-income consumer that is truly at fault. We are classically consumers and for a while America backed that up by also being producers. However in today’s modern market we have outsourced production to lacerate costs in order to make quick short-term profits. Capitol Hill has decided to sink billions into companies that would have otherwise collapsed. And we are expecting them to now take bail out money and turn a profit? These actions are wildly amiss.
There is someone else to blame for this crisis and they don’t sit behind massive oak desks in corner offices. The misbehavior accused of corporate executives must be attributed to us. Nearly everyone buys homes and cars they cannot readily pay for and so many of us are in credit card debt. Look around and you will see people living dramatically outside their means. Why don’t we blame those who signed the dotted line of the faulty mortgages leveraged by the lenders? We have and are continuing to foster an economic culture of consumerism and materialism that can never satisfy the greed that has driven it into the ground.?
Yes this is a different topic for a column on faith but the situation at hand speaks greatly to our faiths. I believe that the problems we are facing economically today are directly related to our beliefs as a nation. This is highlighted by the wasteful habits of the average debt-ridden consumer. We need to stop wailing about the corporate execs who we claim have robbed us blind and realize that based on our current behavior we would have done the same in their shoes. We have essentially done this to ourselves.