What Have We Become

Being the news and political “junky” that I am, my level of pessimism over who we are and where we are headed as a country continues to increase on a daily basis. I am not, by nature, a pessimistic person; I have ways sought the “silver lining” or the proverbial rainbow in most situations; while at the same time, trying to remain pragmatic and a since of realism and objectivity. But – what we are witnessing now with our country is down-right scary. Everyday is filled with new headlines of business and personal bankruptcies, foreclosures, the continual downward spiral of the stock market, the rapid depletion of equity, both from investments and real estate, which is destroying vast amounts of wealth, and starting to create a lot of fear and panic; particularly among the retired or those close to retirement and those who have greatly overextended themselves from a debt standpoint.

Now, I know that there are many arguments and finger pointing on who is the blame for all of this mess, and in many cases, rightfully so; many want to blame the banks and mortgage companies for creating “easy” mortgages that included “teaser rates” or Adjustable Rate Mortgages (ARMs), no money down type of loans, no income verification loans, sub-prime loans, etc; and in many ways those people would be right.

Some want to blame Wall Street for creating secondary markets to securitize the loans and sell them to investors or for creating complex derivate products that were supposed to be “hedges”; while making millions in-between. And, in many ways, those people would be right.
Some want to blame the regulators, whether federal, state, private, or self regulators for this mess, due to lack of “oversight” or just the lack of regulations in general. And, in many ways, those people would be right.

Some want to blame the Federal Reserve for keeping the money supply open for too long, which kept interest rates down, which lead people to speculate more on housing or on condos or other real estate, thus driving-up prices, particularly in places like Florida, California, and many cities. And, in many ways, those people would be right.

Some want to blame the Bush Administration for his more “lazze-faire” approach to the economy and its attention to Big Business and Oil, as well as the Iraq war. And, in many ways, those people would be right.

Some want to blame Congress for implementing rules and legislation unto banks such as the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which forced banks to extend loans and mortgages to segments of the population that were considered “high risk” for not being able to repay; or for doing away with the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999; which, with that removal, allowed banks to create holding companies that allowed for real estate, investment, mortgage, and insurance companies under the bank holding company; thus creating conglomerate banks that were/are “too big to fail”. Or Congress creating an accounting rule called Mark-To-Market, forcing companies (including banks) to continuely change their balance sheets to reflect current market value of investments and real estate. There are many other regulations that Congress has forced upon companies and financial institutions that may have helped create this mess. And, in many ways, those people would be right.

Some want to blame the corporations for their huge executive pay scales and golden parachutes, even if the company losses money (like Home Depot giving Robert Nardelli a $210M package to resign, when HD sales were declining); or all the corporate perks and jets, and the lay-off of American employees while the companies hired “off-shore” employees. And, in many ways, those people would be right.

Some want to blame the consumer for running-up record personal and individual debt loads and buying houses (and second homes) and cars and “things” they could not afford, while often times taking out (cashing out) or removing a vast amount of their “equity” from their houses (using them as ATM machines) based on a perceived value. And, in many ways, those people would be right.

I have only touched on the reasons for our current problems, which are vastly more complex than what I presented above, to which there are many other reasons, with many being, in its own way, valid.
To me, most of the problems stem from a couple of the most innate sin that is deep within all of us; the sins of greed, envy and pride; as well as the need to feel “respected” or feel like we have to “keep up with the Jones” mentality. Now, don’t get me wrong here; I’m not saying that it is necessarily wrong to have “nice things”, or a nice house, or wear nice clothes, or drive a nice car; but, all too often, many of us fail into the trap that in order to keep up appearances or live in some state of perceived luxury, we had to take on more debt; whether through credit cards (after all, you were told you can have that $20,000 limit by just signing application or calling that 1-800 number) or through HELOCs (Home Equity Line of Credit) or buying that car on a 72-month payment plan (imagine a $300 monthly car payment for the next 6 years???). Yes, go ahead and buy that second home, that condo at the beach or in the mountains, or build that great new master bathroom off of the new master bedroom; you’ve got $50,000 of equity in your house.
I think you get my drift here, and this mentality extends to companies and governments, as well as individuals. What it all boils down to is what have we become as a people or as a society. As is the case with most of my posts, there is a song on my playlist (yes, go ahead and play it) by DC Talk (one of my favorite groups) named “What Have We Become”; and it states in part of its lyrics “what have we become, self indulgent people?”
Then part of the chorus goes like this:

What have we become
In a world degenerating
What have we become
Speak your mind, look out for yourself
The answer to it all is a life of wealth
Grab all you can cause you live just once
You got the right to do whatever you want
Don't worry about others or where you came from
It ain't what you were it's what you have become

And we need to ask ourselves; what have we become as a people. Are we now paying for the sins of envy, greed, pride, selfishness, etc?
It is not my desire in this blog to be too political or to play the blame-game; this is outside the scope of this blog and is a subject that will be debated for many years to come and the consequences and ramifications for the decisions that are and are not made today and in the near future will impact our and our children’s lives for many years to come.

My purpose for this post is to ask – what have we become, and, more importunately, what will we learn from this? What kind of people will we become? Is it wrong to desire for “better” things or for a “better” (perception is everything) lifestyle, or for a “better” environment for our children? On the face of it, I say NO, all those things are not, in of its self, wrong; but at what point does it become wrong? And at what expense, both monetarily and spiritual?

Just food for thought; and as always, please feel free to respond.