Like everybody else, I'm watching the unfolding economic situation with an increasing sense of dread.  I can't guess what's going to happen next, and when I spend too much time thinking about it, I am not comfortable.  I do know we're all going to have to get through this together.

One thing I know in the core of my being -- the current economic situation has been brought about by plain and simple greed:  Mortgage brokers were trying to suck more out of consumers; Big investors were trying to suck more out of consumers by buying those ill-conceived mortgages; Credit companies were trying to suck more out of consumers by making it easier for them to get into debt; All the while, the only thing being watched was this quarter's bottom line, without any thought about what happens when (not if) the house of cards starts to collapse in on itself -- because it was inevitable that those least equipped to handle financial strain would begin to default. 

I've been saying for years that we've become an inverted society.  Once, we were a nation which rode to greatness on the back of its business prowess.  We used our wealth to build a great society, with infrastructure to maintain the personal needs of its people, as well as the needs of business.  We had a social conscience which supported people in need.  We used tax money to "promote the general welfare" of this great nation.  Even our nation's motto, which once was "e pluribus unum" or "from the many, one" -- a sentiment that implies all working together to build a great country -- seems to have become "hurray for me, to hell with everybody else."

Greed has become more and more socially acceptable -- or more realistically, as greed has become the sine quo non of our social and political attitudes.  We have developed a "what's in it for me" mentality and we have turned our backs on people in need.  We have abandoned the mentally ill to fend for themselves.  We have shunned the financially disadvantaged, and blamed them for their condition.  We have shut off marginalized people from the help they need.  All in the name of profit and greed.  Instead of businesses being the underpinning of a great society, it became paramount for business to succeed, even if it was at the cost of the very society business grew from.  We became selfish and short-sighted as a people.

We have dozens of examples of this kind of short-sighted greed, with big oil companies being the most obvious.  Here we have an industry that posts record profits (PROFITS -- not revenue) while the people who generate that profit struggle to purchase its vital product.  Instead of telling the shareholders "sorry -- we need to give our customers a break" the message was "damn the consumers -- they have no choice."  Business riding on the back of the people rather than the other way around.  It is an unsustainable situation.

There are those who will say that this is socialist or communist thinking.  That's simply not the case.  It's trying to look at the way we think in terms of long-term stability, and rational self-interest.  If I am dependent on my customers for my livelihood, it only makes sense for me to make sure my customers survive in the long-run.  This is what we, the people, have forgotten.  This is what Wal-Mart, Exxon, Halliburton, Bear Stearns, Countrywide, and so many others have forgotten. 

We, the consumers, in our mad rush to "get ahead" -- often at any cost -- have forgotten that ultimately there comes a time when the equation has to get balanced.  There comes a time when it becomes necessary to pay off the credit.  There comes a time when debt must be reduced.  There comes a time when we have to live within our means.  Unfortunately, I fear we're getting ready to have this lesson force-fed to us.