Just an Aside on American Politics

(Journal Entry from September 29th, 2008 9:30pm)

For the past week I have been watching the CNN and BBC coverage of America's financial crisis. I saw the news of major banks and creditors failing, watched as congress purposed a 700 billion dollar bail out bill, and watched as that bill was voted against in the House. If I, a well educated woman am left confused and uncertain, I can't imagine what must be going through the minds of the average American... fear.

It makes since to me that we cannot live on credit forever, eventually debts must be repaid. If banks lend money to millions of people that can't afford the debt, they risk inability to repay their major lenders and financial partners. I am not surprised in even the mildest sense of the word that this is happening. I only don't understand why this is the moment; what straw broke the camels back? Perhaps the answer to 'why now?' is insignificant. Americans spend beyond their means and eventually we will reap what we sow. This is not only the fault of the large corporations that okay bad mortgages and market their products in seductive ways. We as a people are responsible for entertaining our appetites. We are obese, not just in weight but in mind. However, having an understanding of this alone is not enough. We must also understand and come to accept that when we stop our glutenous consuming the engine will slow down. Retailers will down size, some will even go out of business. The immediate result will be a loss of jobs and it is inevitable. Pumping money into the machine will be worse. They say it will prolong the inevitable, but my main concern is that it doesn't confront the underscoring problem and work to change the mentality of overspending that got us here. It works to encourage the gluttony. Rather, we need to promote individual and corporate financial responsibility. Yes, America, let's band-aid the problem once again.

We need to focus on the real problem, but does anyone know how to begin to tackle the real problem? The obvious answer is to suck it up, and start living within your means. If you need a credit card to buy it then don't buy it. Save! When people gamble with their money, they take a risk. It is not the governments job to replace the money you gamble away. Now I wont pretend to have all the answers, but I know that some things are certain... Most Americans live beyond their means and this excels the problem at hand. I wish that we would stop spending our energy on acquiring the latest and greatest Ipod and start spending our energy on expanding prosperity on a community level. I feel for all the people that will lose their jobs and homes through this financial awakening. It is a tragedy. We need to work as a people to make responsible and economical decisions and also work to instill compassion, charity, and neighborliness in America and in the world.