Whose Mess?

[BodybyFisher]

Lots of people like to bash Bush for the economy during his administration, this article really opened my eyes

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/09/whose_mess.html

[jackc]

I blame the state of the economy on greed, widespread unethical behavior in business, and lack of meaningful regulation of the free-market system. There are a lot of lessons that we as a country learned a long time ago (remember the Robber Barrons?) that have been forgotten or worse, shoved aside by the greedy in the pursuit of the almighty buck.

There is a balance between private gain and the public good that must be maintained in a civilized society. And it seems clear to me that the past decade has emphasized private gain, at the expense of the public good.

And just about everyone had a hand in it:

From the Wall Street "wizards" that hatched their plans to sell worthless paper to the rest of the world,

To the pizza delivery drivers turned "mortgage professionals" that peddled unaffordable mortgages and pocketed unheard of commissions,

To the people that bought property they couldn't afford,

To the elected representatives that allowed the rules to be watered down to the point where anything goes,

To the bankers that went crazy passing through worthless paper for profit, and now want us to believe that the government made them do it,

To the geniuses that sold off our manufacturing capacity for short term gains,

To the analysts that continue to trumpet quarterly earnings growth as the only thing of importance (obviously they assume that a normal business cycle is something you ride to work!)

To the many of us chasing the Joneses with our credit cards,

To the families that fail to inculcate into their young that there are standards of decency and compassion that are attached to the family name that they hold.

Oh, and alot of other stuff that I haven't gotten to............... But it really doesn't matter