Common Sense for the Economy

It's amazing how many pundits are proclaiming the demise of capitalism due to our recent economic crisis. Long dreaded socialism seems to be the anticipated default. This is not surprising. Town criers have no purpose without something to cry about. Talk of doom and uncertainty make for a captive audience.
    I am no economist or political pundit, but I do own a modicum of common sense that most of these so-called experts seem to lack.
    From what I see and hear, no one knows how to repair the present economic crisis, or can predict what the final outcome will be. A somewhat modified form of capitalism will probably be the final product, shored up by much needed regulations. The lessons we learned from the Great Depression have been reinforced, and we hopefully will remember them.
    It mustn't end there. "We the people" need to apply and enforce common sense that leaders and experts simply will not. Expressing the will and insight of the people is our function in a democracy. We need to fulfill our patriotic duty.
    The following are some common sense observations for us all to consider:

• Blind faith in market dynamics, no matter how profitable for a time, is still blind faith that eventually courts disaster. We need to use our heads in balancing short term and long term solutions.
  
• Greed must be recognized for what it is: a vice that leads people astray, and should be avoided. We've known this for thousands of years. Only pervasive thoughtlessness has convinced people otherwise.
  
• Consumerism should no longer be viewed as a national philosophy. It should be reined in and replaced by a resurgence of thoughtful freedom, personal development and responsibility.
  
• We cannot afford, as individuals or as a nation, to live on endless debt. Today's problems are nothing compared to tomorrow's if we don't live more responsibly.
  
• If politicians on the national level wish to be our friends and allies, our true representatives, and not our enemies, they will fulfill their obligations with greater concern for reality than ideology. We don't need sanctimonious rhetoric fed to us by the guilty.
  
• Each political Party, for the sake of integrity, needs to hunt out corruption in its own ranks and stop acting like schoolyard bullies with the other. Every instance of corruption or hypocrisy scandalizes everything we believe in. We must protect our ideals before they fall apart completely.
  
• Citizens must act to keep leadership more in line. If we do not inform ourselves about the issues, or worse, if we believe whatever propaganda a party, talking head or particular faction tells us, we renege upon our responsibilities as citizens.
  
• We need to contemplate the formation of a perfect storm of economic realities. Unlimited illegal immigration, middleclass jobs being outsourced overseas, American fortunes being invested in other nations rather than our own, unconscionably high costs of higher education, a lack of jobs that produce actual products, incredible national debt, families living on maxed-out credit cards, CEOs turning success into tragedies for their workers, politicians corrupted by power, oligarchic influence brought about by the disparity of wealth, and unnecessary military adventurism, are all pushing us to the edge of a frightful abyss. The problems are so many, so great, and so inter-related, that they can no longer be placed in priority. They require large-scale cultural change that each of us must enforce.

Genius is not required to understand any of this. Just common sense and good will. The trouble is, unless people speak out and hold their leaders accountable, common sense and good become commodities of short supply.
    We are habitually being deceived. Consider how the fundamentals of our economy were strong and reliable, until suddenly they were not. Bernard Madoff was a financial genius, until he was found to be a lying crook. The War in Iraq was about weapons of mass destruction, until we learned that they had none. Climate change was just political hype, until ice caps showed sharp reductions, and world climates behaved erratically. Energy alternatives stayed on the back burner since President Carter first called for them, until now when we need them up and running yesterday.
    This is not a complaint. That would be a waste of time. It is a call for people to take control of their own political futures and bring rational thought to the forefront. Wishful thinking, extremist ideologies and media illusions have to be put aside before it is too late.
    Fellow citizens, it is time to speak out.

Return