In the US, 43% of people spend more than they earn each year. Personal bankruptcies have doubled in the last decade. The average US consumer has managed a loan of some kind for 14 years. 15% of all people have over $15,000 in credit-card loans. In many countries, being in debt is seen as immoral! Yes, immoral. In India, respected nationalized banks send thugs to people's houses, and literally break legs, to collect past-due payments.
In light of the current credit crises, we have repeatedly heard how consumer greed has gotten the economy in this mess. Some free-market votaries will suggest that bailing suffering consumers is only going to encourage continued recklessness. In their opinion, letting those currently in financial trouble- wether it is the hallowed Bear Stearns, or a lay homeowner-- suffer the consequences of their poor judgements, is actually good for the economy in the long run. They argue that free markets need both, the buccaneer'ish-experiments, and the consequences, to function. As in a gene-pool, the whole is the better when those whose were unfit for survival are allowed to perish. Resuscitate the flailing, prop up the faltering, and you reward market schemes that are basically flawed, and should be allowed to self-eliminate.
I agree with some of this. Except, cataclysmic failures don't always imply the culpability of all victims. Any more than those who succeed don't always deserve full credit for their achievements. So, I agree that a judicious culling of the bad-apples (mixing metaphors) is healthy. However, lets not throw the baby out with the... alright, you get the point.
Getting back to the point... the main reason we see this ill-advised propensity to swipe among consumers is reflective of attitudes of the whole US society. From the Federal government on down, there is the tendency to tolerate, even reward, financial risk. Credit, an Orwellianism for debt, has become the life-blood of the economy. The easy availability of credit on the one hand, and the repeated Presidential exhortations to go out and spend to save America, combine to elevate profligacy to a near-patriotic act. Imbuing consumerism with a nationalistic hue convinces common folk that their debt is somehow a gift to America's future.
The truth is starkly the reverse. You couldn't give your kids a worse inheritance than debt, pollution, over-population, and other postponed decisions.
More on postponed decisions other time.
People are the election's cash cow-- close to a billion dollar has sluiced this election campaign, and things haven't even gotten started yet. Wait till the Democrats have their champion selected, like the Republicans have theirs in McCain, and the two gladiators descend into the mud-pitt of democracy, to entertain their gore-seeking (no pun intended) audience, the people.
Now, know that I fundamentally believe in the wisdom of the masses-- vox populi, vox dei, and all that. But, all animals trust their collectivity to be lead by wise alpha-individuals, by a meritocracy, and when these leaders surrender reason to populism, flocks turn to mobs, and baser passions rule decisions. So, it is actually a failure of the mechanism of group-think, caused by a failure of leadership, that turns our wise-masses, into a "gore-seeking", self destructive mob.
The checks being sent to people for economic-stimulation, the trillions borrowed and spent in Iraq, the $1.3 billion paid out in bonuses on the Wallstreet, the value destroyed by devaluation of realestate, the $2 trillion consumer debt, all represent money that could have been spent on schools, research, training, and infrastructure, to build a stronger America.
Instead, we give our people debt, call it credit, and then sanctify expenditure by sending election-time cash.
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