Posted by
Sam Allen on Thursday, September 25, 2008 4:47:50 PM
I am a little tired of hearing both sides blame each other for the
mess, and hearing "average" Americans blame everyone but themselves.
The
truth is that we live in a materialistic "get it now" culture that
affects/infects both Washington, Wall Street, and main street. The Dems pandered to
the underclass to have the government push bad loans for people who
could not afford them, so those people would continue to vote for them.
The Republicans pander to the business community (who can do no wrong
apparently) who like idiots give loans to people who cannot afford
them, because for awhile we can make big money. A great number
of average citizens refuse to take responsibility for their own choices
in buying homes they could not afford, because my banker said I could
afford it (not just sub-prime buyers either). As long as the bubble kept growing everyone was happy, but now that it has burst, everyone blames everyone but themselves.
The
solution is not more or better government regulation or less government
regulation, but it does include more regulation -- namely,
self-regulation by everyone. At all levels of society we have
people who refuse to regulate their own behavior. I think capitalism,
democracy, and freedom in general are obviously the best systems, but
they only work if the people in them can regulate themselves!
The
problem with a bail-out is that it is simply putting off the day when
we as a society feel the full effects of our bad behavior. Like a
co-dependent spouse cleaning up after an alcoholic, this action may
mean that we don't get the wake up call soon enough to change our
society.