You can blame the “leaders” but you have a choice to follow a leader or not to.
You can blame politicians but who elects the politicians? Do not play the game of moral equivalency between the two parties.
You can blame “predatory lending” but who walks into the bank to get a loan?
You can blame greedy corp’s and CEO’s but who is feeding them the $ to fuel their greed?
All I’ve seen for the last 20 years has been a general public dead set on “acquiring” everything they perceive others as having whether they be fictional tv characters, blinged up celebrities, or their neighbors that just got that Escalade and tropical pool installed.
Nearly every single home purchase I look at shows multiple re-finances over the last 5 or 6 years with equity being pulled out every single time. For what? I guess it takes a lot of $ to keep up with the Jone’s these days.
This society succumbing to the marketing blitzkrieg through tv, music, celebs,neighbors, news, etc. is pathetic and it is our own fault for believing all the slop that is fed to us as reality. How many shows sprang up hyping how to get rich flipping property in the last 5 years? Some of the late night ads regarding real estate wealth were so stupid it was laughable yet those advertisers made money, and lots of it, catering to people who had the need to become instantaneously rich in the easiest possible manner.
So, I don’t blame politicians or CEO’s. They are just like everyone else except that they operate on a larger scale. If a corrupt janitor works his way up to the CEO position he will be a corrupt CEO.
I know many on this board hold themselves responsible for their actions and I am grateful that there are still some who value that principle. Unfortunately it is a dwindling minority.
In my opinion if you want to place blame on all of this mess, and the myriad others that are going to follow, quit engaging in kindergarten-like arguments about Bush and the Democrats or Republicans and go find yourself a mirror.
