The Meek Damn Well Better Inherit the Earth

Posted by LK on 11/26/08 • Categorized as Anarchy, Personal Responsibility, The Economy and Markets

To state it as simply as possible, the greed, overindulgence, and ostrich-like behavior that provoked our current economic debacle were embodied by:

1. The addicts, better known as consumers, who took on debt they either knew they couldn’t carry or were conned into thinking they could, whether it was mortgage debt, consumer/credit card debt, auto loans, or whatever other variations on these themes that were dangled in front of them, and

2. The enablers and dealers, from the real estate agents, to the mortgage brokers, to the car salesmen, to the banks sending out one credit card offer after another all featuring usurious interest rates in fine print. And then there are the big fish, the dealers the likes of which the DEA craves, but the SEC lets slide, the majordomos in the boardroom and backrooms of the now deceased or reorganized investment banks who passed off cubic zirconium as diamonds to greedy fools willing to buy shiny stuff without looking beneath the surface.

What kills me is that the folks in the middle, those who didn’t take on obligations they couldn’t handle, and who pay their bills on time and in full, end up not only paying their own way, but that of the above bad actors as well.

That hurts; that really hurts. While I understand that reimbursement may come, if it comes at all, only after the situation stabilizes, it’s going to make paying taxes feel that much more onerous, because not only are the responsible types paying their own fair share, they’re covering the bad bets made by rich and poor alike.

Decent folks are being treated like gullible dolts. Shame on all of us, the perps for their, well, shamelessness, and the innocent victims who accept a burden they didn’t hoist upon themselves while maintaining an obedient bordering on docile posture.

There is substantial cause for good people to remain anything but silent.